HDMO - Hungarian hub against disinformation

📢 Update from the Hungarian Digital Media Observatory (HDMO)

Following the appointments of Gábor Polyák and Krisztina Nagy to the Hungarian Media Council, the HDMO consortium is taking steps to ensure a clear separation between their new institutional roles and the project. Both previously contributed to HDMO through our consortium partners Mérték and IDEA. The necessary contractual and organisational changes are already underway.

🔎 Our commitment remains unchanged: safeguarding the professional independence, integrity and transparency of HDMO, while ensuring that our work continues without disruption.

Read our full statement:
tinyurl.com/5btn644t

🗣️ Political Capital’s Head of Programme, Bulcsú Hunyadi, recently participated in #Disinfo2026, Europe’s biggest conference on #disinformation. Organised by @DisinfoEU, an independent European civil society organisation, the conference attracted 650 participants from civil society, the media, academia, tech companies, and government institutions. 🌐

🔎 The conference discussed the latest trends facing the counter-disinformation community. During a panel on securitised information and shrinking civic space, Bulcsú discussed the establishment of informational autocracy and state-sponsored disinformation in Hungary under Viktor Orbán's premiership, why this system proved ineffective in the 2026 elections and the lessons it may offer counter-disinformation actors in other countries.

🤝 We are deeply grateful to @DisinfoEU for the organisation of the conference and for the invitation. By doing so, we stand in solidarity with them in the face of pressure from foreign actors, regardless of its origin.

📢 @MertekMonitor's new Soft Censorship Report tracks changes in Hungary’s media system up to the April 2026 elections.

📺 Media concentration, the limited space for independent media, and the post-election transformation of the Fidesz-aligned media empire.

🤖 Plus: how AI is entering Hungarian newsrooms.

👉 Hungarian-language report: hdmo.eu/hu/2026/10/07/…

📰 @MediaPiac has featured the new paper by @peterkreko (@Pol_Cap, @HdmoHub) and Ágnes Urbán (@MertekMonitor, @HdmoHub) renewing public service media in Hungary.

Key elements:
🛡️ Editorial independence
✅ Credibility
🤝 Trust-building
🧠 Media literacy

👉 Article in Hungarian: tinyurl.com/3e6pfxdd

🎙️ Great turnout at yesterday’s Goethe-Institut Budapest roundtable!

@HdmoHub members @Wirth_Isa (@afpfr) and Gábor Polyák (@MertekMonitor, ELTE) discussed the role of credible public service media and how young people can become more conscious and critical media consumers.

#HDMO #MediaLiteracy