888 condemned for insulting post on MSZP chairman’s wife
January 27th, 2016Pro-government columnists condemn a pro-government news site targeting young audiences for publishing a tasteless piece which called MSZP leader Tóbiás’ wife a “masturbation device”.
On Saturday, the pro-government 888.hu news site republished nude photos from the late 1990s of Tímea Rába, a former beauty pageant contestant, now wife of MSZP chair József Tóbiás. 888 called Ms Rába “a masturbation device”. In a short comment on Monday, 888 editor-in-chief and director of the pro-government Századvég think tank, Gábor G. Fodor, wrote that “conservative journalism gives everyone their due. It respects greatness … and calls a slut a slut”. Fidesz politicians distanced themselves from Fodor’s statements.
To call anyone’s wife a slut is not conservative journalism but tasteless barbarism, Péter Szikszai comments in Magyar Idők. The pro-government columnist thinks that employing the language of vulgar journalism is unlikely to make conservative journalism successful. Szikszai calls on the editors of 888 to apologise to the MSZP chair and his family for publishing such a nasty article.
In Magyar Hírlap, Zsolt Bayer contends that conservative straightforwardness and rejection of political correctness should not be confused with uncivilized vulgarism. The pro-government pundit, known for his highly opinionated op-eds, thinks that discrediting family members and calling a wife a slut is alien to the spirit of conservative journalism.
Tags: Conservatism, media, MSZP, Tóbiás