What has been proven by the Hungarian election results?

The Media campaign running up to the Russian invasion demonstrated to the whole World how efficiently a country’s public opinion can be manipulated if government critical voices and independent Media outlets are systematically rolled back or eliminated. In the EU there is no regulation capable of limiting state level disinformation campaigns. On EU level a Digital Services Act is being prepared (a DSA is a tool against illegal contents and disinformation promoting transparent advertising solutions). In theory by the end of the year this new regulation will be finally adopted, and what is even better it will have direct implications for the member states. This will create certain rules for the big social Media platforms, and the providers of intermediary services, as they are called in the regulations, but it is likely that it won’t give answer to this concrete situation – explains Media expert Krisztina Rozgonyi in the March 22 issue of Kreatív magazine.[1]

Only regulating the providers won’t be enough to handle the disinformation campaigns run by the authoritarian propaganda leadership. In the Hungarian country report of Freedom House in 2021, Hungary is not considered a democracy anymore, but a hybrid regime. So, the access to information is not free, the information mechanism doesn’t allow the political alternating. The Political Propaganda Indicator (PPI) measures how efficient political propaganda is, to what extent the public is manipulated in a given moment in the country in question following the methodology of the Freedom House Press Freedom index, and the corruption index of Transparency International. The PPI shows to what extent a basic EU right, the guaranteed access to unbiased information is breached in a given country.

One example: the latest poll just before the 2022 Hungarian elections shows that 88% of Fidesz-voters believe the statement that has been disconfirmed at multiple occasions, that Márki-Zay wanted to send Hungarian soldiers and weapons to Ukraine.  Even 30% of the supporters of the opposition believed this statement produced by the Fidesz propaganda machinery. 61% of the so-called undecided voters believed this statement of the character-killing experiment.

The collection of data for the poll initiated by Dimenzió Média Foundation was done by Zavecz Research Institute on a representative sample involving 1000 people in the last full week of March.

The PPI confirms the previous research results – indicating that most of the population meets only the messages of Fidesz, the governing party – screening the results of the manipulating mechanisms by showing the proportions of the manipulated people within the society. Analysts draw this conclusion from indirect research projects of the Media system created by the Orbán government since 2010 when they research the ownership structures of the Media outlets, the advertisement expenditures, the state financed “information” campaigns, and the content analysis. Lately civil organizations proved that Fidesz has spent 8 times as much on billboards, and online advertisements.[2] The research method developed a few years ago by Dimenzió Média Foundation, Zavecz research Institute and Mérték Média Monitor can also measure how widely a certain political fake news is spread in Hungary, and the proportion of the population considering a statement that has been disconfirmed true.[3]

Have you met this statement?

Yes

No

NA/DK

Péter Márki-Zay would send Hungarian soldiers to Ukraine.

86

13

1

The leftist opposition would take away the 13th month pension.

79

19

2

The Left supports the propagation of the gender changing operations.

67

30

3

Hungary fought successfully against the Covid pandemic.

85

13

1

Elections are increasingly not competitions of political program anymore, but rather competitions of fake news, lies and character killings all over the World. In the news industry, the openly admitted fake news producing branch is stronger than ever. There is a basic right defined by the freedom of expression protecting against unlimited spreading of systemic character killing statements or negative propaganda doxing a political rival, often without any real ground or with just a tiny piece of truth in them. In other words, a politician can say whatever he/she likes, because the other politician can do the same, as well, so the right to make statements and to disconfirm fake statements creates a theoretical balance. In theory. The Basic Law (the Hungarian Constitution), the EU treaties and the Universal Declaration of Human rights guarantee these rights. Nevertheless, this principle can only be fulfilled if there is a balanced Media representation of all parties. That’s why the right to unbiased information is an equivalent basic right in the referred documents.

Do you consider it True or False? (among those who met the statement)

Yes

No

NA/DK

Péter Márki-Zay would send Hungarian soldiers to Ukraine.

60

33

7

The leftist opposition would take away the 13th month pension.

53

38

9

The Left supports the propagation of the gender changing operations.

45

46

9

Hungary fought successfully against the Covid pandemic.

55

40

5

Research projects done by the Dimenzió Média Foundation have proven that in Hungary the basic right to unbiased information is severely breached in the Media system that has been created since 2010. We can’t speak about free and democratic elections in a country, where a major part of the population, a proportion that can have a decisive impact on the results of the elections don’t meet the message of some political parties participating in the competition, those that could disconfirm in time the fake news spread about them.

 

What do we measure?

 

1.) How information and disinformation relate to one another.

2.) The nature of spreading news and intentional fake news.

3.) How much disinformation is spread.

4.) The efficiency of fake news-industry.

5.) The distance between the reality and the created distorted image of reality.

6.) The actual standing of the “troll war”.

7.) Omitting refutation, the extent of missing information.

 

A spectacular proof for the specific asymmetry of the Hungarian Media system is that refutations reach only a part of society, so it is worthy to spread obvious lies, if the number of misled people not reachable by the disconfirmations is enough to win the elections.

The proportion of those who met the statements in the different voters’ groups:

 

Supporters of Fidesz-KDNP

Supporters of the joint list of the Opposition

Undecided voters

Péter Márki-Zay would send Hungarian soldiers to Ukraine.

 

95

 

84

 

75

The leftist opposition would take away the 13th month pension.

88

79

63

The Left supports the propagation of the gender changing operations.

72

72

48

Hungary fought successfully against the Covid pandemic.

90

86

77

 

A much deeper and wider scope research would be capable of revealing whether the questioned people met the disconfirmation of the statements, and if so, why they still believed the original statement despite the refutation. For this research a focus group inquiry would be the most suitable.

The proportion of those who consider the statements true in the different voters’ groups (Among those, who met the statements)

Supporters of Fidesz-KDNP

Supporters of the joint list of the Opposition

Undecided voters

Péter Márki-Zay would send Hungarian soldiers to Ukraine.

88

30

61

The leftist opposition would take away the 13th month pension.

82

20

55

The Left supports the propagation of the gender changing operations.

71

19

44

Hungary fought successfully against the Covid pandemic.

88

24

50

The immune system of the Media and the efficient uncovering of fake news have been paralyzed by the government intervention creating editorial boards serving the political propaganda, by the government interference in market relationships, by the protectionism in dissemination and by advertisement expenditures disregarding real business interests.

If there is such a measuring mechanism that show to what extent the right to unbiased information of the European citizen has been breached, then the Union must do something with it. Important institutions deal with limiting the impact of fake news and disinformation mechanisms, but it is not sufficient to uncover the lies.

If Media regulation remains in the authority of member states, and EU rules don’t protect the basic right of citizens to unbiased information, namely they won’t be controlled by the EU, then the fulfillment of the basic values written in the EU basic charter cannot be required in the member states.

 

Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union declares:

Article 11: Freedom of expression and information

1.   Everyone has the right to freedom of expression. This right shall include freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart information and ideas without interference by public authority and regardless of frontiers.

2.   The freedom and pluralism of the media shall be respected.

The Fundamental Law of Hungary declares:

Article IX

(1) Everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression.

(2) Hungary shall recognize and protect the freedom and diversity of the press, and shall ensure the conditions for the free dissemination of information necessary for the formation of

democratic public opinion.

(3) In the interest of the appropriate provision of information as necessary during the electoral campaign period for the formation of democratic public opinion, political advertisements may only be published in media services free of charge, under the conditions guaranteeing equal opportunities, laid down in a cardinal Act.

(4) The right to freedom of expression may not be exercised with the aim of violating the human dignity of others.

(5) The right to freedom of expression may not be exercised with the aim of violating the dignity of the Hungarian nation or of any national, ethnic, racial or religious community. Persons belonging to such communities shall be entitled to enforce their claims in court against the expression of an opinion which violates their community, invoking the violation of their human dignity, as provided for by an Act.

(6) The detailed rules relating to the freedom of the press and the organ supervising media services, press products and the communications market shall be laid down in a cardinal Act.

In the brain blood system nature solved how to stop germs getting into the brain with a narrow gate in protection of the brain’s blood supply. To achieve democratic and free elections, legislators face the challenge of creating those legal tools that could prevent the “intellectual germs”, the intentionally misleading political propaganda based on fake news getting into the social consciousness.

(The Political Propaganda Indicator was introduced by the Dimenzió Média Foundation following the methodology of the Press freedom index of Freedom House and the Corruption Index of Transparency International.)

 

Ferenc Vicsek, media expert

 


[1] This war has been prepared in the „heads”, in the Media space  (Kreatív, 2022.03.22. https://kreativ.hu/cikk/ezt-a-haborut-a-fejekben-a-mediatizalt-terben-keszitettek-elo#)

[2] Fidesz could breach the law by spending 8 times more for billboard campaign than the opposition.  (https://transparency.hu/hirek/valasztasi-kampany-2022-torvenyt-serthetett-a-fidesz-nyolcszoros-tuleroben-a-kormanyoldal-plakatkampanya-az-ellenzekkel-szemben/)

[3] Information VS being informed, the Political-propaganda Indicator pilot project (Médiakutató, XXI. évfolyam 2. szám. https://mediakutato.hu/cikk/2020_02_nyar/06_tajekoztatas_kontra_tajekozottsag.pdf