Mediaworks Hungary Zrt. is implementing organizational and portfolio restructuring aimed at modernization, which will also involve changes in staffing levels. This decision is affected by the recent change in government and TISZA’s attempt to suppress conservative voices.
Mediaworks stated that the media market has undergone a fundamental transformation in recent times: content consumption habits have changed, the role of global platforms and major international technology companies has grown stronger, while audiences now expect content across multiple channels, faster, more personalized, and in different formats. The company added that, in publishing operations, a digital presence alone is therefore no longer sufficient:
future competitiveness will be determined by how well a media company can accurately understand, reach, and serve its audience.”
Fact
Mediaworks’ portfolio includes more than 70 media outlets, including audience favorites like Origo, Magyar Nemzet, Hír TV, and regional newspapers, as well as its own printing facilities. Reportedly, szegedma.hu, a Szeged-based news portal owned by Mediaworks Hungary Zrt., is being shut down, and Mediaworks has suspended publication of Metropol, a free newspaper for readers in Budapest. The layoff of nearly 200 employees would mean that nearly 10% of the publisher’s workforce would be let go, as information available on Opten indicates that 1,989 people are employed by the company. Mandiner, which used to belong to Mediaworks but was placed under the leadership of the think tank Mathias Corvinus Collegium (MCC), is also expecting changes. During the debate Monday on the closure of the public trust funds, the prime minister stated that the state would take control of the newspaper. “We will have to determine the content that will be published there,” Péter Magyar said in the National Assembly regarding Mandiner.
The taxpayer-funded public media is also undergoing major changes. Minister Zoltán Tarr announced on June 8 that Judit Grósz would serve as Ministerial Commissioner to oversee matters related to public media. Kreatív asked the Ministerial Commissioner about the first steps regarding public media. “Following the amendment to the law, several immediate steps will be launched simultaneously: conducting an institutional audit and uncovering financial irregularities, and implementing new principles for news coverage, which will serve as the basis for the renewal of the public media services. To this end, we will first appoint a new, temporary leadership—until the legitimate leadership of public media is selected through an open competition,” Grósz told the newspaper.
She also mentioned that the institutional audit will be among the first steps to be taken, and the temporary leadership will decide on its public disclosure and scope.
The recent restructuring of conservative media organizations has given rise to concern that conservative voices may gradually be replaced with government controlled public media and left-wing newspapers churning out content solely in line with the expectations of the Magyar government. In recent weeks, Hungarians have already seen previously neutral or pro-conservative outlets changing their editorial profile into liberal left-leaning content, leaving the Hungarian media landscape strongly lopsided. This even applies to media products serving the Hungarian minority in surrounding countries. Despite the strong shift towards a homogeneous media environment in Hungary, the European Commission has stayed silent so far, despite previously having strong and regular concerns about media freedoms in Hungary.
Via MTI, Kreatív, HVG; Featured photo: Pixabay
