Hungarian Public Broadcasting is Relaunched after Orban
"We apologize for lying for so many years."
Hungarian public broadcaster M1 was temporarily suspended from broadcasting on Tuesday after a new director general took office. An apology to viewers appeared on screen for the channel's past propaganda broadcasts.
"Public media cannot lie. We apologize for doing this for so many years! Public media is now transforming itself to be independent and trustworthy in the future. News coverage is temporarily suspended. Stay with us!" appeared on TV screens and on the station's website around 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday.
"Public service media has lost its main function: authentic and objective information for the public. Instead, it has become a forum for inciting hatred and lies. This will change from now on," the new leadership said in its announcement.
The new leadership was installed by the government of Prime Minister Péter Magyar after the Tisza party's landslide victory in the April parliamentary elections. Tisza has a constitutional majority of 141 seats in the 199-member parliament.
Magyar called the day historic. "Today, the broadcast of propaganda in public media has ended. They lied at night, they lied during the day, they lied on all wavelengths. Now it's over,"
