Hungary Shuts Down State TV Broadcasts Amid Media Overhaul After Orban Era

Hungary's state television broadcasts were abruptly darkened on Tuesday afternoon, replaced by an apology message acknowledging years of misleading content under former Prime Minister Viktor Orban's rule. The black screen displayed a statement reading, "Public media cannot lie," and apologized for the misinformation spread over the years. It announced a temporary suspension of news broadcasts and promised deep reforms to establish an independent and credible public media in the future.

This broadcast suspension is part of a broad reform following legislation passed last Friday by Hungary's new government, which accused the previous administration's public media of serving as a propaganda tool. The reform includes dismantling the current broadcasters MTVA and Duna Media and creating a new broadcasting authority.

On the same day, several senior executives at the public channel were dismissed. Interim CEO András Horváth arrived at the public broadcaster's headquarters with his team to implement immediate changes. Hungary's new Prime Minister, Péter Medgyar, hailed the move as historic, stating, "Today, the propaganda broadcasts of Hungary's public media have finally ended. They lied at night, they lied during the day, they lied on every channel. Now it is over."