Less political content, more independent experts on Hungarian public TV news compared to last year, study finds

The amount of political content and politicians’ screen time has decreased, the distribution of speakers across political parties has become more balanced, and the role of independent experts has increased significantly—according to a recent study by Republikon Institute which examined how Hungarian public television’s news program has changed since last year. The analysis compared broadcasts from September 15 to 21, 2026 with those aired during the same period the year before.

According to the research institute, one of the most striking changes was that political news coverage has been significantly reduced: in 2025, political news accounted for 88.1 percent of the news broadcasts in the period under review, while in 2026 it accounted for only 55 percent of total airtime. At the same time, the proportion of news related to foreign policy dropped significantly, a trend the research institute attributes to the fact that Viktor Orbán’s campaign had been heavily focused on foreign policy at the time.

Politicians spent a total of 1 hour and 30 seconds on screen in 2025, while in 2026, this figure dropped to just 23 minutes and 2 seconds. In 2025, Fidesz politicians were featured in the evening news programme for 48 minutes out of the 1 hour—that is, 80 percent of politicians’ screen time—while the total screen time for all other opposition politicians combined was 12 minutes. This September, these ratios were also reversed: of the 23 minutes of politicians' screen time, half—12 minutes and 22 seconds—featured Tisza politicians, while 5 minutes and 37 seconds featured Fidesz politicians, and 5 minutes and 3 seconds featured other politicians—such as representatives of Mi Hazánk, Budapest Mayor Gergely Karácsony, or President András Baka.

During the week under review in 2025, Fidesz appeared in an explicitly positive light for 39 of its 48 minutes of screen time, and the party was not portrayed negatively even for a single second. Meanwhile, the Tisza Party was portrayed negatively in 9 of the news program’s 12 minutes dedicated to the opposition. According to Republikon, this is where one of the most significant changes between the two weeks under review was observed: they were able to identify 24 seconds of positive coverage for the Tisza Party in total—and this was in a news segment dealing with the incident in which Péter Magyar was doused with wine by a Fidesz supporter.

Incidentally, Viktor Orbán’s name was mentioned 92 times during the week under review last year; according to the qualitative analysis, these mentions were almost exclusively positive—in contrast, Péter Magyar was mentioned 62 times during the same period, and these mentions were exclusively negative. By 2026, however, the number of mentions had changed significantly: Orbán was mentioned 24 times, while Magyar received 44 mentions. According to Republikon, however, this is not due to the news media’s attempt to avoid mentioning him, but rather to Orbán’s waning influence.

Significant changes were also observed with regard to the experts interviewed: last year, there were 24 experts interviewed on political topics, all of whom—with one exception (when Péter Ákos Bod was interviewed)—were clearly affiliated with Fidesz. In contrast, during the week in September 2026 under review, 39 of the 43 experts speaking on political topics were independent.

Republikon noted that this does not mean that the M1 News program has become independent in every respect, adding that only limited conclusions can be drawn about long-term trends based on the results of a single week. “However, the current results clearly show that since its relaunch, the news program of the Hungarian public media has broken with many of its previous practices and has during the period examined, provided significantly more diverse coverage—featuring guests from more sides of the political spectrum, as well as more perspectives—than it did a year before”, the analysis states. The full analysis is available here.

Republikon Institute recently published another study on the Hungarian public television’s previous news programs: this study analyzed broadcasts from February through July and found that there was not a single instance in which any Fidesz politician appeared in a negative context.