Speech by Dr András Baka, President of Hungary, on 20 August 2026 on M1 Public Television
My fellow Hungarians,
On 20 August, we commemorate the founding of the Hungarian state by Saint Stephen - a recognition that a country’s future is shaped not only by its leaders, but also by strong, enduring institutions.
Today, we too must build such institutions: institutions that serve not the powers of the day, but the citizens of our country. For the quality of a state is ultimately reflected in how well the institutions function that its citizens encounter in their everyday lives.
Public service media is one such institution.
That is why it is particularly significant that, on this very day, the full news service resumes its operations in a renewed form.
On 7 July, the public service media screen went dark. The previously loud, raucous, flashing screen fell silent, and against the black background, only a few sentences remained:
“Public service media must not lie. We apologise for having done just that for many years.”
It is rare for television to say so much by showing nothing at all.
That silence marked a turning point. Something had come to an end, and it promised the beginning of something else.
Today, a month and a half later, news broadcasting is resuming. Now we shall see what purpose this silence served.
But a fresh start is not enough in itself. It is not enough to produce new programmes or put new faces in front of the cameras. A far more difficult task lies ahead of our public service media: they must regain the public’s trust. And that cannot be proclaimed. It can only be earned.
If a public service broadcaster deliberately remains silent, distorts the truth or misinforms the public, it is one of the gravest offences against society.
For millions of people in Hungary, public media is the primary – and for many, virtually the only – source of news.
Anyone who obtained their information from these sources had every right to trust that they were being told the truth. That important facts were not being withheld from them. That others were not deciding on their behalf what they should be allowed to know about the country and the world.
If this trust has been breached, the responsibility does not lie with the people. It is not a mistake to place one’s trust in a public service broadcaster. Abusing that trust, however, is a grave breach of responsibility. Those who conceal or fabricate information are not merely deciding what appears on the evening news; they are creating an artificially constructed reality on which millions of people base their decisions.
The role of a democratic state is not to make decisions on behalf of its citizens, but to create the conditions in which they can make their own decisions. To this end, people must be free and able to access the facts, different opinions and all the considerations they need to find their own way in the world. For whoever takes away our freedom to choose deprives us of a part of our human dignity.
Freedom of the press is not simply a journalist’s right to speak. It is also a citizen’s right to know. Citizens must have access to the information they need to form an opinion, and therefore the freedom to think differently.
There is an old legal principle: let the other side be heard. This principle is important not only in the law, but also in public discourse.
This simple sentence encapsulates the realisation that listening to another person is also a recognition of their dignity. We cannot expect more – nor less – from public service news: it must tell the truth and listen to the other side as well.
What makes propaganda propaganda is not the political side it serves, but the fact that it serves politics.
The true measure of change, therefore, will not be whether we now hear different opinions, but whether a public service media landscape emerges in which no one can ever again shape reality to serve political interests. And we must defend a free media and public discourse not only when it suits us, but also when it is uncomfortable. Perhaps that is precisely when we need to defend it most of all.
The credibility of public service media cannot simply be proclaimed today. It will be demonstrated by the news reports of the coming weeks, months and years. We will know that things have truly changed when it no longer even occurs to a journalist to ask themselves: “Is this allowed? Is this permissible?”
Because if something is true, in the public interest, and has been properly investigated, then reporting it is not merely permitted. It is a duty.
My fellow Hungarians!
A free state does not take away the burden of decision-making. It grants the freedom to decide.
‘Public media must not lie.’ Let this be more than just a memorable phrase.
The purpose of public service media is, ultimately, simple: to create a public forum that respects citizens’ freedom and judgement.
This is what I wish for our public service media as it begins anew.
This is what I wish for all of us.