CEO of Hungarian media authority resigns

History

László Zsolt Szabó, the CEO of Hungary’s Media Service Support and Asset Management Fund (MTVA), resigned yesterday from his post effective from August 15, according to MTVA, which confirmed yesterday earlier reports by Hungarian online daily origo.hu.

The CEO did not justify his decision, and the announcement disclosed no further details.

In an interview with Origo, Szabó said that in mid-March, after the reorganization of Hungarian state-owned media, all-news channel M1 was not created to compete with HírTV, which is owned by Lajos Simicska and used to be Fidesz-friendly until Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and Simicska’s friendship saw a public breakdown. The CEO also denied speculation that M1 would be airing “government propaganda”.

When M1 experienced hiccups on the day of its launch and was forced to broadcast a black screen for several minutes, the CEO said that only “those who do not work do not make mistakes”. The blackout also garnered the attention of the international press.

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