The state acquired PM Viktor Orbán’s favourite newspaper with HUF 3.5 billion of public money

Sports are good. Who hasn’t, on the occasion, enjoyed yelling unspeakable insults at some elite athlete from the comfort of their couch? Sports journalism – also good. People apparently want to read about the Hungarian national football team’s 4-0 victory over England in what was little more than a friendly low-stakes game, three years after the match was played. And yet, even with all these virtues, it remains – well, odd – that the government spent HUF 3.5 billion in public funds to purchase Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s favourite newspaper, Nemzeti Sport.

In response to a parliamentary inquiry, the official justification for the purchase was that the newspaper “represents a national cultural value, and its continued existence in print is in our interest”. According to Tamás Vargha, State Secretary for Defence, the acquisition of the newspaper also contributes to Hungary’s transformation “from a nation of fans into a nation of athletes.”

On the last day of September 2022, Magyar Közlöny published the news that the state had purchased N.S. Média és Vagyonkezelő Kft., the company that publishes Nemzeti Sport, and designated a state-owned company, Nemzeti Sportügynökség Nonprofit Zrt. (National Sports Agency) as the entity responsible for exercising state ownership rights.

Following the announcement, we submitted a freedom of information request for the contract related to the purchase of the prime minister’s favourite newspaper’s publishing company, but to no avail.

The Hungarian National Asset Management Inc. (MNV) refused to release the document, claiming it was a trade secret.

Since no such exemption applies to public funds and publicly relevant data, we took the matter to court. After more than two years of legal battles, we received the 33-page contract from MNV. The document revealed that the state had paid 3,479,756,000 forints in public funds for the publisher of Nemzeti Sport.

National cultural value, national interests

Following our article, MSZP MP Bertalan Tóth submitted a written inquiry to Márton Nagy, Minister for Economic Development. Tóth asked two straightforward questions:

1. What public service functions necessitated spending nearly 3.5 billion forints on acquiring Nemzeti Sport?
2. How much will it cost Hungarian taxpayers annually to maintain the newspaper, i.e., how much public money will be spent on its upkeep?

Instead of Nagy, Tamás Vargha, State Secretary for Defense and deputy to Defense Minister Kristóf Szalay-Bobrovniczky, responded to the MSZP MP’s inquiry. It is still unclear why or how Vargha found himself responding – perhaps next week’s fixtures have become a matter of national defence.

Sports affairs have been under the Ministry of Defence’s jurisdiction for years. Again – it remains unclear as to why, but hopefully Hungarians sleep better at night knowing that, come rain or shine, the sports are safe.

In his response, Vargha stated that Nemzeti Sport is one of the world’s longest-running sports newspapers. As one of Hungary’s oldest brands, it “represents a national cultural value, and its continued existence in print is in our interest”.

He added that acquiring the publishing rights provided an opportunity to use broad media channels to disseminate news of Hungary’s increasingly successful sports achievements to as many Hungarian sports enthusiasts as possible. This, he argued, aligns with the government’s goal of transforming Hungary “from a nation of fans into a nation of athletes”.

Copies of Nemzeti Sport’s daily editions sold over the years 

However, according to data from the Hungarian Circulation Audit Association (MATESZ), the newspaper’s sales have been steadily declining, similar to other print publications.

At the end of 2019, it sold 28,733 copies, but by the first half of 2024, that number had dropped to just 15,398.

The print edition of Nemzeti Sport may not be the most effective medium for reaching the widest possible audience with sports news.

Orbán: the newspaper is the “crown”

State Secretary for Defence Tamás Vargha did not address how much public money will be required to maintain Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s favourite newspaper. Instead, he used his response to criticize MSZP, stating:

“Your anti-sports policies are nothing new. Between 2002 and 2010, you halted most infrastructure developments, neglected sports facilities, and cut the sports budget in half.”

Vargha’s parliamentary response closely aligns with comments made by Orbán himself in a late-2023 interview with Nemzeti Sport. Unsurprisingly, the prime minister lavished praise on the newspaper and defended the government’s decision to spend 3.5 billion forints of public funds on acquiring it:

“We saved the print edition of Nemzeti Sport, because even though traditional newspapers are struggling worldwide, Hungarian sports cannot exist without Nemzeti Sport. Everyone my age knows this. The sports daily is to Hungarian sports what the crown is to the country—if the crown is lost, so is the nation.”

— Viktor Orbán, Nemzeti Sport interview, December 22, 2023 (source: miniszterelnok.hu)

Notably, in the UK, the NHS has historically been referred to as the “jewel in the crown”. In Hungary, we have no time for silly things like a healthcare system – bring in the Hungarian Premier League’s transfer predictions, instead.

Legal inquiry into the purchase

Following our article on the newspaper’s purchase price, DK MP Ágnes Vadai also submitted a written parliamentary inquiry.

She asked Chief Prosecutor Péter Polt: “Don’t you think that in a rule-of-law state, a truly fair and impartial prosecution service would have long ago launched an investigation into why the government used Hungarian taxpayers’ money to purchase and finance the prime minister’s favourite sports newspaper—one that hardly anyone subscribes to anymore?”

Instead of Polt, his deputy Tibor Ibolya responded. He informed Vadai that her question had been interpreted as a formal complaint and forwarded to the National Bureau of Investigation. The authorities will later notify her of the outcome. However, given precedent, no surprises are expected—similar cases in the past have never resulted in any findings of wrongdoing.