Hungary’s public media management company, the Media Services and Asset Management Fund (MTVA), stirred controversy in early November over reports it had hired reporters from conservative station Echo TV despite ongoing plans to downsize. Echo TV is owned by top Fidesz donor Gábor Széles, who also owns the national pro-government daily newspaper, Magyar Hírlap.
In response, the MTVA confirmed that its news office had “expanded with a few excellent professionals, so that the news shows of M1/M2 and Duna TV and the platforms of the radio news service can provide even more professional and complete reporting to the viewers and listeners of public media channels and its mobile platforms.”