News portal editors quit in protest

The entire staff of Origo News have decided to leave the news portal after their editor-in-chief was abruptly fired, reportedly on political pressure, i.e. for their stories opposing and criticising Viktor Orbán and his cabinet too much.

"We, the members of Origo News section, believe that after the departure of chief editor Gergõ Sáling we cannot continue our work as before. Therefore, based on individual agreements - we are leaving Origo. We are greatly sorry that this story is ending this way," a statement, signed by four of the news editors, was quoted by the financial website portfolio.hu.

Their departure was preceded by the resignaton of another key journalist Zsolt Pethõ, the author of a story about the extravagant travel-related expenditure claims by János Lázár, the PM’s chief of staff, which was apparently the 'last straw’ for the cabinet, and the leave of Péter György, one of the founders and editorial board member of the site.

In the middle of the week, thosands of people protested in front of the [origo] editorial office in the Hungarian capital, calling for the strengthening of the freedom of the press.

Origo, owned by Hungarian Telekom, which is the local interest of Germany’s Deutsche Telekom, has rejected allegations of being under political pressure, cited consumers’ changing demand for media services as the reason for reorganisation and changing its editor.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) criticised the removal of Origo's editor as well as the planned ad-tax. Euobserver cited Astrid Frohloff, a RSF spokeswoman in Berlin, as saying in a statement that after a resounding election victory in April, that "Orban's government wants to silence critical voices and curb civil society". She also said the removal of Origo's editor is a severe blow to independent journalism in Hungary.

The Hungarian news portal 444.hu reported on Thursday that German economic interests in Hungary played a role in allowing Origo.hu's freedom to be compromised, with the Budapest government planning a comprehensive rural IT development project with Deutsche Telekom.

The German firm said that its subsidiary, Magyar Telekom (the owner of Origo.hu) works independently, and that personnel changes are a result of an internal restructuring that Deutsche Telekom has not influenced. János Lázár also denied he had anything to do with the firing of the news portal's editor-in-chief.