Hungarian nuclear plant spent 7.2 million euros on advertising itself in two years

The Orban government built up a huge media empire that serves its interests and spreads its messages. This media group is financially supported by the advertising budget of state-owned companies. The Paks nuclear plant, for example, spent more than seven million euros on advertising itself in the past two years.

State-owned Hungarian companies spend huge amounts of money on advertising even if they have a monopoly in their specific sector. The state-owned energy group, MVM, for example, spent 17.3 million euros on advertising its services in the past two years, even though it is the only company supplying electricity to Hungarian customers.

MVM’s subsidiary that runs the Paks nuclear plant is also spending money on advertising. In 2016 and 2017, it spent 7.2 million euros on advertising the nuclear plant.

This data was revealed by the company after Atlatszo filed a freedom of information request asking MVM Paks to reveal how much it is spending on advertising.

Most of this money went to media outlets serving the Orban government. In 2016, nearly 60 percent of this money was spent with these outlets. In 2017, more than 87 percent of the money was channeled to government-friendly outlets.

In 2016, the MVM subsidiary running the nuclear plant spent 3.1 million euros on advertising.
According to Atlatszo’s analysis, 60 percent of this money was spent with the following 12 media companies that are serving the interests of the Orban government:

In 2017, the company spent 4.25 million euros on advertising. This time, 87 percent of the money was spent with the following 15 media companies, all serving the Orban government’s interests:

Written by Katalin Erdélyi

English version by Anita Kőműves, editing by Clare Humphreys.

You can read the original, Hungarian language story here.

Company data was provided by OPTEN Kft.

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