AMY BROUILLETTE AMY BROUILLETTE

Hungary’s recent election was a sharp rebuke of former Prime Minister Viktor Orban and his Fidesz party after 16 years of democratic erosion under his rule. Voters overwhelmingly rejected Orban’s signature brand of “illiberal democracy,” embraced by aspiring autocrats around the world, in what amounted to a resounding reminder that change is still possible even when opposition appears hopeless.

Orban’s ouster is also a testament to the power of independent journalism.

Throughout his rule, Hungary’s independent news outlets worked under immense pressure to expose his government’s staggering corruption and abuses of power. They delivered a steady flow of reliable reporting on the regime’s excesses, scandals and graft amid a flood of propaganda and disinformation produced by state-controlled media.

At a time when democracy is under attack globally, Hungary’s experience underscores the indispensable role of a free press in defending against autocracy. By exposing corruption and holding leaders accountable, independent journalism serves as a powerful antidote to the propaganda and falsehoods that sustain authoritarian regimes.

Fidesz’s electoral defeat also highlights a critical flaw in the model of media capture that Orban implemented and aspiring autocrats worldwide have sought to emulate. At its core is the assumption that media systems can be controlled and repurposed as instruments of political power. But this outcome is not inevitable and can, in fact, be reversed.

As Hungary’s experience shows, vast propaganda systems are neither impermeable nor infallible. By the end of his tenure, Orban’s government and its allies controlled roughly 80 percent of the country’s media landscape, including private and public television and radio, national and regional newspapers, and digital outlets, along with a large network of influencers and online trolls. Yet even that massive apparatus was not enough to secure victory at the ballot box.

This should set off alarm bells among authoritarian leaders in Europe and beyond, especially US President Donald Trump. Over the past year, his administration and billionaire supporters have sought to replicate Orban’s model by reshaping the American media industry, most notably through the pending merger between Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery, which would concentrate major media outlets — including CNN and CBS — in MAGA-friendly hands.

What distinguishes the Hungarian media-capture model from more overt forms of repression — such as censoring critical reporting, shutting down newspapers or imprisoning journalists — is that it seeks to co-opt the press rather than silence it. Outlets are acquired by regime-friendly owners, regulatory bodies are politicized and advertising is used to reward favorable coverage. Meanwhile, public broadcasters are hollowed out, staffed with political loyalists, or defunded.

These strategies require vast resources and the cooperation of business elites willing to trade democracy for economic gain. In Hungary, Orban’s media empire was built with billions of euros in pilfered public funds, often funneled through Fidesz-aligned companies and media owners.

The tech oligarchs now rallying around Trump appear to be making a similar calculation, offering political loyalty in exchange for financial windfalls and lucrative government contracts. Three of the world’s richest men — Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Oracle’s Larry Ellison and Elon Musk — have been central to Trump’s efforts to build a MAGA-aligned media ecosystem.

While these tactics may be subtler than those used by more overtly authoritarian regimes, the goal is the same: to strip the media of its watchdog role and reshape it into an instrument that serves those in power. As Orban told the MAGA faithful at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Budapest in 2022, the key to power is to “have your own media.”

During the same speech, Orban suggested that Tucker Carlson — then still firmly in Trump’s orbit — should be broadcast to American audiences “24/7.” This remark captured the central flaw in his propaganda model: the belief that inundating the public with pro-regime messaging guarantees control.

The Soviet Union’s propaganda machine rested on the same false premise and ultimately proved far less effective than it appeared. Independent news and ideas circulated through samizdat newspapers, pamphlets, and books passed from reader to reader, while millions across the Soviet bloc — including Communist officials — tuned in to Western radio broadcasts for reliable information about their own countries.

What leaders like Orban often underestimate is the resilience and determination of independent media to bring the truth to light. Outlets can be censored, captured or shut down, but journalists and newsrooms will continue to find ways to fulfill the core function of a free press: investigate, publish, and inform.

Hungary’s recent experience is a case in point. Even after years of political intimidation and state-backed disinformation campaigns, the demand for truth proved stronger than the forces seeking to suppress it.

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Amy Brouillette

Amy Brouillette is director of advocacy at the International Press Institute. The views expressed here are the writer’s own. — Ed.

(Project Syndicate)

khnews@heraldcorp.com