Hungarians were shocked last week to learn that the chief of police in the southern city of Hodmezövasarhely had taken his own life. In the preceding days, he had been the target of personal attacks in a pro-government local newspaper after permitting a rally critical of the governing Fidesz party.
People were also exhorted to take violent action at the event. It’s not clear to what extent his tragic death was connected to the public hostility, but it tallies with the image of a country in which political debate is becoming more and more acrimonious.
“For a long time now, we’ve seen public discourse becoming increasingly aggressive,” says Gabor Polyak, a professor of media law and policy at Eötvös Lorand University in Budapest. “Politicians are constantly painting someone as the enemy, dehumanizing groups, and flooding the public realm with propagandistic messages — which are funded by the taxpayer.”
‘The neurotoxin of propaganda’
Last weekend, Hungarians took to the streets of Budapest to protest against and incitement in public discourse. The protest was organized by the Loupe Theater Troupe, which estimated that at least 50,000 people responded to its call for a non-partisan demonstration under the slogan “Air! Stand up for free public spaces and clean public discourse.” There were speeches from creative artists, including the comedian Edina Pottyondy, who warned that the Hungarian government was using “the neurotoxin of propaganda” to control public debate.
The actor Tamas Lengyel, one of Loupe’s co-founders, explained that the demonstration was prompted by the government posters plastered all over the country. For more than a decade, they have incited hatred against a series of different bogeymen, from refugees to the Ukrainian President .
“Billions of taxpayers’ money are being spent on disinformation and propaganda,” Lengyel told DW. “We had the idea of doing something to counter these posters.”
So far, their protest activities have resulted in a petition with more than 200,000 signatures and an initiative promoting a referendum to ban hate speech in the public sphere. Lengyel and his fellow campaigners are waiting for a response from the Hungarian electoral commission.
Cult of personality, on- and off-line
Prime Minister had issued yet another warning about the supposed enemies of the day before the protest, at an unofficial election campaign event just a few kilometers away. He spoke of parties, NGOs, and media organizations that were supposedly “just waiting to implement instructions from Brussels.” According to Orban, they were responsible for acts of aggression and smear campaigns against “Christian and nationalist artists, media, and parties.”
At the event, Orban took a selfie with the author of a blog that repeatedly refers to the opposition leader Peter Magyar as a “.” Magyar’s Tisza party is currently ahead in the polls, which indicates that it stands a good chance of winning the next April. Consequently, the Fidesz media apparatus has its sights set on it.
Hungary’s ‘Don Veto’
This media apparatus also includes pro-government blogs and influencers. The prime minister has made frequent guest appearances on these outlets in recent months, as on the YouTube channel of the rapper and Orban fan Laszlo Pityinger, who calls himself “Dopeman.” Pityinger has given the Orban the nickname “Don Veto” — an approving allusion to the fictitious mafia boss Don Vito Corleone, and Hungary’s tactic of blocking European Union policies.
The media expert Gabor Polyak comments that, while the prime minister’s more frequent personal appearances are a new development, “anyone who thinks that Fidesz has a lot of catching up to do in the digital realm has misjudged the reality.” A study by the Budapest thinktank Political Capital reveals that between January and August 2025 around €5.6 million ($6.5 million) were spent in Hungary on political adverts on Facebook alone — and 85% of this was spent on behalf of the government.
Fidesz: Dominance of the media
Fidesz’s dominance of the so-called traditional media is even more striking. The state media authority MTVA, which was brought in line by Orban long ago, received public funding of around 80 billion forints — approximately €205 million ($240 million) — in the first six months of this year. Numerous private news portals and regional newspapers are firmly in the hands of companies closely associated with Fidesz. The most important state supervisory body, the media council, is staffed by party faithful.
This is also why the NGO Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has warned that “political, economic and regulatory pressure” is being exerted on the free media. Out of 180 countries on RSF’s World Press Freedom Index, Hungary is now 68th. At the start of Orban’s second term in office, after he had spent four years in opposition, it was at number 23.
In order to better protect free media in countries like Hungary, the EU recently introduced a new law, the European Media Freedom Act. However, it has to rely on member states for its implementation — and the Hungarian government has already challenged the law before the European Court of Justice.
No improvement in sight
Given the balance of power and hardened positions in Hungary’s media landscape, the tension in public discourse is not expected to ease.
Media analyst Gabor Polyak says the governing party bears a particular responsibility, as it has made a steadily escalating rhetoric its essential characteristic. “It’s as if we’ve been living in a permanent election campaign for the past 10 years,” he says. “The party can’t function any other way.”
Consequently, Polyak anticipates that the discourse will become even more acrimonious over the coming months in the run-up to the election in the spring of 2026. “It’s going to be a very loud, aggressive, and brutal time,” he predicts.
This article has been translated from German.
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