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Hungary MASS MEDIA
In Hungary the media served as instruments of regime
policy,
so their primary task was to promote the party's policies.
Although other organizations, such as the PPF, the
Communist
Youth League, and the trade unions, produced their own
publications, the regime controlled their content
(see Mass Organizations
, ch. 2). In the 1980s, the regime continued
to
suppress other sources of information, although it made
available
in hotels some Western periodicals and newspapers. The
regime
banned private ownership of the media.
In the late 1980s, Hungary had no censorship laws.
However,
informal censorship occurred in a number of different
ways. Both
the party and the government had organs for censorship.
The party
set guidelines, which were transmitted from its Department
for
Agitation and Propaganda to the lower party organs and to
the
editors in chief of the media. The Council of Ministers'
Information Bureau acted as the government's agency for
censorship
(see Council of Ministers
, this ch.). The
Hungarian
Telegraph Agency (Magyar Tavirati Iroda--MTI) was the
primary
source of information for the media. Because the news
media often
lacked other sources of information, they depended on MTI
for
materials. MTI could thus exercise centralized control
over the
kinds of information that appeared in print or over the
airwaves.
The regime carefully selected editors and informed them
about
party and government censorship standards. Editors could
be fired
for failure to comply with these standards. For example,
in 1983
Ferenc Kulin, editor of Mozgo Vilag (World In
Motion),
lost his position for "systematic defiance" of party
directives.
Editors often exercised informal censorship, rejecting an
article, for instance, because they claimed it did not
suit the
profile of their publication. Editors also exercised
censorship
when they recommended changes to a work that removed or
softened
its politically sensitive parts. Paradoxically, the lack
of
censorship standards encouraged editors to take a
conservative
approach to censorship to ensure that their publications
did not
include materials that might offend anyone in authority.
On March 20, 1986, the National Assembly passed a new
press
law defining the "rights and duties of journalists and the
right
of the public to fast and timely information." The law
compelled
government officials to respond to requests for
information from
reporters. Journalists, however, had to submit a copy of
their
article to people they had interviewed for it. The law
prevented
the publication of materials that "would hurt the
constitutional
order of the People's Republic and its international
interests .
. . and public morals." Critical pieces of writing could
be
rejected on that basis. In addition, according to
Politburo
member and Central Committee secretary Berecz, the law
proscribed
questioning Hungary's "socialist achievements" and its
"national
historical and moral values."
Hungary had three major daily newspapers:
Nepszabadsag
(People's Freedom), the official organ of the HSWP;
Nepszava (People's Voice), the organ of the trade
unions;
and Magyar Nemzet (Hungarian Nation), the organ of
the PPF
and the most liberal of the three newspapers.
Nepszabadsag
was the party daily and had a circulation of approximately
467,000 in early 1989. In November 1988, a new daily--A
Nap (The Sun)--began publication with a circulation of
between 80,000 and 100,000 a day. An afternoon
paper--Esti
Hirlap (Evening News)--had a circulation of between
200,000
and 250,000 a day.
The regime also published a number of specialized
journals.
Tarsadalmi Szemle (Social Review) was the HSWP's
ideological monthly; it had a circulation of approximately
41,000. Partelet (Party Life) had a circulation of
about
130,000. Other, more obscure journals contained more
interesting
subject matter by virtue of their lower circulation and
more
specialized audiences. Valosag (Reality) was
intellectually the most stimulating journal because it
dealt with
politically sensitive and highly unorthodox topics.
Most provincial journals treated only topics of
regional
interest. Nevertheless, Jelenkor (Present Age),
published
in Pecs, and Forras (Source), published in
Kecskemet, had
wider audiences because they included interviews with
national
literary figures and scholarly research from Budapest.
Tiszataj (Tisza Country), published in Szeged,
claimed a
wide readership because it published materials on
Hungarian
national minorities living outside the country. However,
in 1986
the government banned Tiszataj because of
"publication
policy mistakes." The editors were dismissed and subjected
to
party discipline. The publication reappeared in 1987, and
the
party rehabilitated the editors in early 1989.
In the late 1980s, television was the most popular form
of
entertainment. Approximately 95 percent of Hungarian
households
had a television set. In the early and mid-1980s,
Hungarians
watched an average of 140 minutes of television programs
per day.
Programming on the country's two channels ran from
mid-afternoon
to late at night. In addition, some hotels and local cable
and
aerial systems had the equipment to receive and transmit
Westernrelayed satellite programs. Near the country's western
border,
households with a good roof antenna could receive one
Austrian,
two Yugoslav, and two Czechoslovak channels.
Hungary's three radio stations broadcast a variety of
programming. In addition, Hungary concluded a radio
agreement
with Austria to establish a joint German-language radio
station
called Radio Danubius. In May 1986, the station began
broadcasting a twelve-hour program. The station eventually
was to
attain economic self-sufficiency through advertising.
In the late 1980s, videocassette recorders (VCRs)
became very
popular in Hungary. At the end of 1987, VCRs numbered
between
200,000 and 300,000, and an estimated 1 million people had
access
to a VCR. In 1984 Hungary became the first East European
country
to have stores renting videotapes, and more than fifty
videotape
outlets existed in late 1987. The government-operated
outlets,
however, had only 800 titles and a total of only 15,000
copies.
Illegally produced, copied, and distributed cassettes
accounted
for 80 percent of the videotape market. These tapes
treated taboo
themes such as religion, anti-Soviet sentiments, sex, and
violence. The regime acknowledged that these tapes had
spread
throughout the country like a "contagious disease" and
held them
responsible for the rise in the crime rate, increased drug
use,
and the higher suicide rate
(see Health
, ch. 2).
Data as of September 1989
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