BBC World Service to launch news service in Hungarian soon

“BBC World Service is launching news services in Hungarian and Romanian, further strengthening its global commitment to reaching as many people as possible with reliable news. The new pilot news services, BBC News Magyarul and BBC News România, will offer news and analyses on their websites and related social media pages,” the BBC said in a statement.

The Hungarian-language website and the related Facebook and Instagram pages will launch on June 16. The Romanian-language website and the Facebook and Instagram pages will be available from 23 June. For both languages, the YouTube and TikTok pages will launch at a later date. The statement noted that both editorial teams are applying AI-based translation technologies in a responsible manner to make the BBC’s global content available in Hungarian and Romanian.

The BBC promises that pilot news services will provide coverage of key global and regional developments to audiences in Hungary, Romania, Moldova, and beyond. The content will be presented in user-friendly formats built around social media.

The acting global director of BBC News said that in an era of shrinking press freedom, rising disinformation, and global uncertainty, independent and impartial news coverage is more important than ever.

The previous Hungarian-language service of the BBC was discontinued at the end of 2005, along with services in other Eastern European languages.