Hungary’s newly elected Prime Minister Péter Magyar has suggested shutting down the country’s state broadcaster as part of a wider media overhaul, a move that could have implications for the country’s future return to the Eurovision Song Contest.
Clash with state media
The comments came after a tense appearance on Hungarian public television, his first in over a year, which quickly escalated into a heated exchange.
During the interview, Magyar accused the national broadcaster, MTVA, of spreading misinformation throughout the election campaign, including claims involving his family.
He described the outlet as a “factory of lies” and said one of his government’s priorities would be to change how public media operates.
“One element of our programme is that this factory of lies will end once a Tisza government is formed. The fake news broadcast here must stop, and we will create independent, objective and impartial conditions to end this propaganda.”
At another point in the exchange, he compared the broadcaster’s output to “North Korean-style propaganda”-
The presenter rejected these accusations, denying that the channel had targeted his family or acted unlawfully.
Plans to suspend broadcasting
According to Euronews, Magyar went a step further, stating that his government could suspend the broadcaster’s signal altogether once in power, before rebuilding it as an independent public service.
He has long criticised state media coverage of his movement, and framed the proposal as part of a broader effort to reform Hungary’s media landscape.
What this could mean for Eurovision
Hungary has not participated in the Eurovision Song Contest since 2019, and any future return would depend on the country’s national broadcaster.
If MTVA were to be restructured or taken off air, this could affect Hungary’s ability to take part in the Contest, which requires an active broadcaster within the European Broadcasting Union.
Magyar had previously expressed support for a Eurovision return during the election campaign, stating that Hungary’s absence from the Contest was “wrong” and that participation could be reconsidered under his government. However, the current uncertainty around the future of the national broadcaster leaves that possibility unclear.
Hungary’s Eurovision journey
Hungary tried to make their debut at Eurovision in 1993, but did not make it past the qualification round, but a year later, they made their debut Friderika and the entry “Kinek mondjam el vétkeimet?”, which placed 4th. Since then, Hungary has competed on 17 occassion, 14 of which saw them qualify for the final.
The country’s recent participation was in 2019, where Joci Pápai participated with “Az én apám”, which placed 12th in the Semi-Final. Since then, Hungary has not participated in the competition.
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News Source: Euronews
Photo Credit: Thomas Hanses / eurovision.tv
Rory Gannon