More Népszabadság-obituaries

Commentators continue to ruminate on the fate of Népszabadság, Hungary’s number one left-liberal daily which was shut down by its Austrian owner on Saturday last week.

On 444, Péter Ujj who ran a Wednesday column in Népszabadság for 21 years until last week, fulminates against the owners who closed down the left-wing daily. He rejects out of hand the explanation that Népszabadság had to be shut down because it was losing money. He accuses the governing forces of trying to lead more and more of the press ‘on leashes’ and fears that they will ultimately succeed.

On Mozgásér, Tamás Lánczi feels sorry for the journalists who have lost their jobs,  but recalls that Népszabadság never showed any sign of solidarity whenever right-wing outlets were in difficulty. Népszabadság lost its readers (their number fell from a million to 50 thousand over the past two decades), he writes. Do protesters expect the government to subsidise it? Does the left-wing want its daily to be under government tutorship? Lánczi asks.

On Krónika, a Transylvanian news site, Levente Balogh admits the professional qualities of the Népszabadság staff, but regrets that the newspaper has lately confined itself to ‘hatred of the Right’. As for the demonstrations held after it was shut down, he believes those people should have disbursed a few thousand Forints per month and subscribed. ‘We journalists need subscribers more than demonstrators’, he concludes.

Tags: Népszabadság, press