Telex most popular and among most reliable Hungarian news sites, Reuters Institute finds

Hungarian readers consider Telex to be the most reliable news source behind RTL and HVG, the annual Digital News Report of the Reuters Institute has found. Similarly to last year, Telex is still the most widely used online news source in Hungary. The media research institute at the University of Oxford examined the state of the press in 48 countries, by surveying nearly 100,000 people.

Hungary continues to rank at the bottom with regard to trusting the media; according to the survey, the overall trust in the news has fallen by 5 percentage points to 17 percent.

This is the lowest figure recorded in Hungary since 2016, putting the country in last place among the 48 countries surveyed. The global average fell from 40 percent to 37 percent.

According to the survey carried out for the study, among online publications in Hungary, Telex is read on a weekly basis by the highest number of Hungarian news consumers. RTL tops the rankings for television, radio, and print media.

Forty-one percent of news consumers consider Telex a reliable news source. In the case of HVG, 44 percent of respondents said they considered it reliable, while 49 percent said the same about RTL.

Similarly to last year, Blikk performed the worst, dropping by 2 percentage points compared to the previous report: only 15 percent of news consumers trust its information. However, less than a quarter of respondents consider the news from the public media service, Origo, Magyar Nemzet, and TV2 to be reliable.

RTL is not only a leading media player in the Hungarian market in terms of reach and reliability; its role has further strengthened after the number of foreign-owned media companies in Hungary dropped from 57 in 2010 to 17—of which RTL is the largest.

The study also notes that over the past year, the Hungarian media landscape was largely shaped by the campaign for the 2026 parliamentary elections. “As the ruling party’s popularity declined, it deployed a range of tools – escalating rhetoric, legislative measures to suppress critical voices, social media and billboard campaigns, manoeuvres in the media market, and AI-generated deepfakes – alongside economic transfers and the use of state resources.” the study notes. As examples, the report cites the acquisition of Blikk, as well as the significant advertising expenditures of the Orbán government and pro-government channels, and the AI-generated billboard campaigns targeting Péter Magyar.

According to the report, while pro-government media were largely able to support themselves through the Orbán government’s messaging campaigns, independent news portals relied primarily on reader support and funding from international grants.