Népszabadság

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Népszabadság
Nepszabadsag logo.svg
description largest daily newspaper in Hungary
language Hungarian
publishing company Népszabadság Zrt
First edition 1956
attitude 2016
Frequency of publication every day except Sunday
Sold edition ~ 40,000 copies
Editor-in-chief András Murányi (2016)
Web link www.nol.hu

Népszabadság (literally 'people's freedom'), also known colloquially as Népszabi , was Hungary's national daily newspaper with the highest circulation until its end on October 8, 2016 . It was founded in 1956 and was operated by Népszabadság Zrt. published.

The sheet usually had a volume of around 24 pages (in color), on Saturdays it was published with 12 additional feature pages (hétvége) . Népszabadság reported on politics, economics, culture and media, sport and technology, had its own correspondents across Europe and also in some world cities overseas.

history

Before the fall of the Wall, Népszabadság was considered the voice of the state party . After the fall of the Berlin Wall it became a left-liberal sheet. Although it was independent and non-partisan, it generally supported the socialist and liberal parties and was thus far removed from the right-wing conservative Fidesz Civic Association . The majority owner was the Swiss media company Ringier until 2014 , the minority owner was the MSZP . The paper was then sold to Vienna Capital Partners (VCP) of the Austrian Heinrich Pecina via Mediaworks Hungary AG . The newspaper was shut down overnight in a surprising operation on October 8, 2016, without informing employees beforehand. The website and the archive were also initially blocked, and journalists were denied access to computers and personal items. The paper had recently exposed government scandals. A few weeks later it became known that VCP had sold the Mediaworks Group - whose portfolio includes Népszabadság as well as the most important regional newspapers and several high-circulation magazines - to a government-affiliated company.

Edition development

In the course of the post-communist liberalization of the Hungarian media market and the associated “ tabloidization ” of the press market, Népszabadság drastically lost circulation. While the daily circulation in 1987 was 695,000 copies, it fell to 280,000 by 1996, with the newspaper increasingly being financed through advertisements instead of sales.

In the fourth quarter of 2008, according to MATESZ , the circulation had dropped to around 121,000 copies. Népszabadság remained the highest-circulation quality newspaper.

Content

Népszabadság was independent in reporting until the end. Every day there was extensive reports on economic, domestic and foreign policy issues. Due to the threat of punishment from newly created state control authorities for non-conforming reporting, it has not been possible to publish a comprehensive, critical discussion since FIDESZ took over government under the leadership of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. This was accompanied by a certain reduction in the number of pages in the daily newspaper. Nevertheless, "Népszbadság" remained a critical, independent daily newspaper. Despite political pressure, it maintained the largest circulation among other quality newspapers in Hungary. Despite low advertising revenues and a lack of support from government organizations, the structural deficit decreased continuously, investments in personnel and new developments were made until the unexpected shutdown.

Web links

See also

Individual evidence

  1. derStandard.at - Népszabadság sales: the media landscape is being rolled out in Hungary . Article dated October 26, 2016, accessed October 26, 2016.
  2. ^ Opposition newspaper "Népszabadság" discontinued , Zeit Online, October 8, 2016. Sudden end for "Népszabadság" , the daily newspaper, October 8, 2016.
  3. Ágnes Gulyás: The Development of the Tabloid Press in Hungary. In: Colin Sparks, John Tulloch (Eds.): Tabloid Tales: Global Debates over Media Standards. (Pp. 111-127), footnote 2, 1999, p. 126. (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield).
  4. Ágnes Gulyás: The Development of the Tabloid Press in Hungary. In: Tabloid Tales: Global Debates over Media Standards. P. 122.
  5. Összesen terjesztett példányszámok. ( Memento of the original from December 5, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Number of copies distributed) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.matesz.hu
  6. ^ Media landscape: Hungary. ( Memento of the original from February 21, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on the website of the European Journalism Center. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.ejc.net