Hungary: Index.hu Staff Who Walked Out Of Their Newsroom Over Government Interference Is Launching A New Media Platform

Location: Hungary, Budapest
Date: September 7, 2020

The Coalition For Women In Journalism congratulates the former Index.hu staff for launching a new, independent website amidst the deteriorating press freedom in Hungary.

More than 70 editorial staff members walked out of the Index headquarters on Friday, July 24 in mass resignation to protest the arbitrary dismissal of their editor-in-chief Szabolcs Dull. 20 of the staffers that joined the mass resignation were women. 

When talking to The Coalition For Women In Journalism, former deputy editor in chief Veronika Munk expressed said “The mass resignation is not only about protecting freedom of the press but about showing courage in the face of oppression. It is not only the freedom of the press that really matters here on a larger scale. What makes our move special, is that almost the entire staff quit in unison, taking a huge financial risk. This sent a very strong message, that you can say no to Orbán's regime, you can say no to making small compromises that add up to major breaches of your own standards, that you can and should say no at the first bad sign, and lot let yourself corrupted by small steps of adaptation.” and she promised their loyal followers who see the mass resignation as the last nail on the coffin of freedom of the press in Hungary that the team would soon come back and keep doing what they do best: independent journalism.

On September 4, The Coalition For Women In Journalism received good news about a new media outlet to be launched by former Index.hu staff. 

Telex will be published by Van Másik Kft., a company founded by Márton Kárpáti. The editor-in-chief will be one of Index.hu’s former deputy editor-in-chiefs, Veronika Munk. During a youtube video, Veronika introduced Telex as the first large news site that will be built from ground. Veronika says: “This is the moment to create something that is unique and can become a definitive news source reaching a wide audience, this is the moment to give readers back what they miss.

For this new project, we want to recruit as many of our former colleagues as we possibly can. We want this team, these people, most of whom our readers recognize by name, who maintained, wrote, photographed, recorded, edited what was Hungary’s most popular independent website.”

Telex is now accepting donations to be able to properly launch the website as soon as possible, an independent and citizen-funded newsroom will guarantee fair reporting in Hungary. 

Every worthy democracy needs a diverse media, and considering that the editorial board of Index.hu walked out on July 24, 2020, the transformation of the well-known newspaper has left a lot of room in the Hungarian public for a fresh independent media.

Telex promises it’s readers to provide them with what’s happening in the world through fresh, fast, accurate and unbiased news at any time of the day. They promise to remain fair, critical and curious representing ethical journalistic values and that there will be transparency in operation with continuous communication with its readers.

The Coalition For Women In Journalism welcomes the idea of a much-needed news platform in Hungary. Telex.hu is now accepting donations through their website in order to get the site off the ground and to help it afloat. The donations will go towards renting an office, buying equipment to work on and other things such as photo and news agency subscriptions, paying the salaries of journalists, editors and back-office staff, and setting up the technical background needed to securely operate a news site that informs a significant portion of Hungary’s population every day. We wholeheartedly endorse Telex.hu’s efforts and congratulate them on this new and worthwhile endeavour.

The CFWIJ strongly condemns the police brutality against journalists. We demand the immediate return of the press cards seized from the security forces. Policies to intimidate journalists should be abandoned, and journalism should be practiced under the criteria of freedom of the press.

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