Hungarian Public Broadcaster MTVA Apologizes and Suspends News After Years of Propaganda

Hungary’s public media organization, MTVA, halted all news output on its television channel M1 and the online portal Hirado.hu, replacing broadcasts with a black screen and an on‑screen apology. The message, displayed in Hungarian, stated: "A közmédia nem hazudhat. Bocsánatot kérünk, amiért hosszú éveken át mégis ezt tettük!" (The public media must not lie. We apologise for having lied for many years).

The broadcaster acknowledged the use of its platform for propaganda during Viktor Orbán’s government and announced a restructuring plan aimed at creating an independent and trustworthy news service. News services on radio stations Kossuth and Bartók were also temporarily suspended. After a four‑hour interruption, M1 resumed with the classic film "A tanú" and indicated that a gradual reinstatement of news programming would begin on 11 July, with further rollout across TV and radio.

The move has been reported across media outlets in Brazil, Bosnia, Croatia, the Czech Republic and Hungary, all describing the same apology and suspension of news content.