We are grateful to receive the registration of the editorial office of 24.hu for the Government Info session to be held on 10 April 2025. We would like to indicate that while we do accept the registration of the editorial office, we request your cooperation in delegating a different colleague due to the fact that the behaviour of Gergely Miklós Nagy at the session on 27 March 2025 did not meet minimal ethical and moral standards
– this is the letter received by two of our newspaper’s chief editors on Wednesday afternoon, sent by the Hungarian government’s communications and press office.
The case in question began at the previous session, after which government spokesperson Eszter Vitályos requested our colleague to inform the editorial team that someone else should be sent in his place next time, as the politician was dissatisfied with his questioning behaviour. The incident can be rewatched here.
Our article published soon after already made it clear: it is not up to Vitályos to decide whom 24.hu sends to Government Info sessions – for which no known set of rules exists; it is unclear on what basis the spokesperson decides who may ask how many questions, when, and for how long. It is also unclear why Hungary’s most-read and most-watched independent outlets consistently end up at the back of the queue — if they get to speak at all. Meanwhile, the representatives of governmental propaganda, sometimes with minimal reach, are allowed to extensively rephrase their agreement into farcical questions, asking Gergely Gulyás why Péter Magyar, Gergely Karácsony, or the European Union do what they do, and how they manage to do so without shame?
Yet the subtitle of the Government Info sessions is the same as before: What is the government doing and why? And this is exactly what our paper (presumably along with our readers) is interested in —
Yet no spokesperson and minister, paid with public funds, can decide to whom they would prefer to respond, just as government or opposition politicians, actors, athletes or CEOs cannot decide which members of the editorial team they would prefer to give an interview. In all cases, that decision lies with the editorial office.
The foundation of an editorial office’s integrity and independence is that its operations are determined by itself – not by any external interference. A fine example of what this means was given by the case of Válasz Online: while still serving as Head of State, Katalin Novák attempted to dictate that the interviewer should be someone other than András Stumpf. The publication responded by stating that in that case, there would be no interview.
Two months later, on the occasion of the one-year anniversary of her inauguration, it so happened that our newspaper requested — and was granted — an interview with Novák. That time, the since-ousted President did not attempt to dictate who could pose questions to her. Our editorial office delegated our leading public affairs journalist, Gergely Miklós Nagy. He was already one of the country’s best journalists back when it was János Lázár to hold the Government Info sessions, and he will still be one long after Gergely Gulyás and Eszter Vitályos leave this position. At his previous workplaces, he received the Prize for Quality Journalism multiple times, and two years ago, already as a member of the 24.hu team, he won the most prestigious Hungarian award for investigative journalism, the Transparency–Soma Prize. He achieved this with his article about the American campaign support behind the 2022 opposition alliance.
He is the one now being banned by the government from the only occasion where questions can be posed to those in power — once every two weeks — even if within increasingly short time slots, following bouquets of “good news” from the spokesperson about playground renovations and loyalty pledges disguised as questions, or even with no substantive answers at all.
To the letter quoted at the beginning of the article, we responded that we regard it as part of our editorial integrity and a minimal condition of press freedom that the editorial office itself decides whom it sends to a press event. That is why we requested that the registration of Gergely Miklós Nagy be accepted. However, based on the response — once again sent only under the signature of the “Spokesperson’s Communication and Press Office”, that is, anonymously — they “cannot accept the behaviour displayed at the last Government Info session, either now or in the future” and therefore they maintain their decision.
24.hu can respond to this in no other way than to declare: as long as this situation persists, our journalists will not participate in the Government Info sessions, and the editorial office will suspend its minute-by-minute coverage of the event as well.
The Hungarian government has sent the message that it does not wish to provide answers about its activities or the country’s situation to the readers of one of the largest Hungarian newspapers — the same 24.hu that has been winning the monthly unique visitor rankings among news portals for 12 months now.
Naturally, we will not abandon informing our readers: we will continue to briefly and factually report on any important government announcements made at these sessions — if there are any.
However, we will not accept that Gergely Gulyás, Eszter Vitályos, or anyone corresponding with us on their behalf, could take their own picks from among the members of our editorial team. And we will not put any of our colleagues in a position where, by replacing him, they would have to feel like a journalist deemed acceptable by government standards.
Our colleague, Csaba László Horváth, contacted the Ministry for National Economy back in November 2024 with questions regarding the umbrella programme established to mitigate the economic disruptions caused by the Russian–Ukrainian war. The massive 442-billion-forint programme had been approved by the European Commission, subject to conditions. We started off with one specific example: Gábor Gönczi’s company was listed as having received 55 million forints from the fund. One of the conditions for receiving support was that, prior to the grant being awarded, the beneficiary companies were required to submit a declaration on how the crisis had adversely affected their operations. According to the TV2 news anchor, he made no such declaration and claimed he had no idea how his name ended up on the list. Other (government-affiliated) entrepreneurs who appeared among the beneficiaries gave similar statements.
- The Ministry for National Economy did not provide any response to the written questions.
- As a result, Csaba Horváth asked Gergely Gulyás about the crisis fund money at the Government Info session on 23 January. The head of the Prime Minister’s Office could not provide any substantive information about the 442-billion-forint fund, but promised to ask the responsible ministry to respond.
- Since nothing happened, József Spirk followed up on the matter with Gulyás on 6 February. On that occasion, the minister said that the Ministry for National Economy had a response that ”could be further developed”. Then again, nothing happened.
- At the session held on 13 March, Csaba Horváth once more questioned Gulyás, who reported that, as far as he knew, we had already received an answer. In fact, we had not.
- On 27 March, Gergely Miklós Nagy’s final question would have been on this topic again — but he was cut off.
- However, a few days later, the Ministry for National Economy finally sent a response to the questions that had been submitted in writing nearly half a year earlier. Naturally, this will soon result in another article.
