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 MTVA headquarters in Budapest (2021) | |
| Company type | State-owned corporation |
|---|---|
| Industry | Mass media |
| Predecessor |
|
| Founded | 1 January 2011; 14 years ago (2011-01-01) |
| Headquarters | , |
Area served | Hungary |
| Services | Television, radio, online |
| Owner | Government of Hungary |
| Subsidiaries | Duna Média |
| Website | mtva |
Médiaszolgáltatás-támogató és Vagyonkezelő Alap (MTVA) (lit. 'Media Services and Support Trust Fund') is a Hungarian fund company owned and financed by the Hungarian state, through the National Media and Infocommunications Authority (Hungarian:Nemzeti Média- és Hírközlési Hatóság, NMHH). MTVA was established on 1 January 2011, and from July 2015 the company's main task has been to finance and operateDuna Média, Hungary's state public company. It is an active member of theEuropean Broadcasting Union (EBU).
A 2019 report by theEuropean Federation of Journalists stated that news coverage of the Hungarian public broadcaster is not balanced, opposition politicians' viewpoints are nearly absent from the reports, and there is a lack of transparency over the funding and work of MTVA. The report concluded that the "public service media have been deformed into state media."[1][unreliable source?] Moreover, MTVA withdrew its participation from the EBU'sEurovision Song Contest amid a rise in anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment among the leadership of Hungary and MTVA; while no official reason for the withdrawal was given by the broadcaster, an inside source speaking with the websiteIndex.hu speculated that the contest was considered "too gay" for MTVA to participate.[2]
MTVA brought together four public media companies in Hungary:Magyar Rádió (MR),Magyar Televízió (MTV),Duna Televízió (Duna TV) andMagyar Távirati Iroda (MTI). At the same time, MTI was given the exclusive right to produce news content for the public broadcasters.[3][4][5] According to Hungarian politicians, the establishment of MTVA should help clean up the country's "dysfunctional public broadcasting sector". However, the media reform received criticism from foreign politicians and media experts, who believed the reform limited the independence of broadcasters and gave the government greater control over the country's public broadcasters.[6]
The four broadcasters continued as four divisions under MTVA, but were merged into a one-joint broadcasting company named Duna Media on 1 July 2015. Thisnonprofit organization is the legal successor to each of the four formerly separate entities managed by the MTVA.[7] The Duna TV channel become the main generalist channel, replacing the first Magyar Televízió channel M1, the oldest in Hungary, which changed its format/genre and assumed continuous broadcast of news related programming.[8]
Among other things, MTVA is responsible for distributing funds and resources to the various departments in Duna Media. Most people who work for Duna Media are also employed through MTVA. According to theHungarian National Assembly, MTVA wants to have a relationship with its British counterpart,BBC.[9]
Its activities include radio, television, news agencies and online services as listed below:
Current:
Former:
Current:
Former or planned channels
In 2011, MTVA's news editor Dániel Papp manipulated a news segment about politicianDaniel Cohn-Bendit to make it look like he fled the scene without an answer after being questioned on accusations of child abuse. Subsequently, uncut footage showed that Cohn-Bendit replied to the reporter's questions and denied the accusations. Papp was later promoted.[10] In the same year, Zoltán Lomnici, the former president of theSupreme Court was blurred out from a report about a press conference he was co-hosting. The censoring of Lomnici was suggested to be politically motivated.[11][12]
In 2019 a leaked audio recording made during the run-up toEuropean Parliament elections showed a senior MTVA editor, Balazs Bende, informing reporters that the institution does not favor the opposition's list and the reporters should work accordingly. Bende instructed the reporters to produce content using the "appropriate" narrative and methodology, especially on topics likeBrussels andmigrants.[13][14]
The merger ensures that the companies do not terminate their operation without having a legal successor.
