Hungarian public media’s close cooperation with key Chinese media revealed after Átlátszó successfully sues for contracts

Hungarian public media has promised extremely close cooperation to its Chinese partners in several contracts. These contracts were obtained by Átlátszó through litigation following a freedom of information request. Átlátszó is planning further legal steps as some contracts seem to be held back.

In contracts signed in 2023 and 2024 Hungarian public media promised staff exchanges, cooperation in news policy, as well as economic and technical collaboration to its Chinese partners. The contracts were acquired by Átlátszó following a freedom of information request to MTVA, the organization producing programs for Hungarian public service media.

The Chinese media organizations involved in the contracts — including TV and radio channels under the China Media Group (CMG), the People’s Daily, and the Xinhua News Agency — are often referred to collectively as the three major central media in China.

Hungarian public media promised cooperation on certain news reports, the joint “study“ of artificial intelligence, and exchange of experiences with these organizations, among other things. The contracts also specify that important events involving the two countries, such as official visits, would be covered through joint reporting efforts.

Átlátszó is planning further legal action regarding several further contracts that were only referenced in the ones made available but not disclosed.

Staff Exchanges and AI Collaboration

CMG is the most important state-owned Chinese media conglomerate, created in 2018 by merging separate TV and radio entities to form an organization capable of shaping global public opinion. It operates under the control of the Chinese Communist Party.

In October 2023, CMG signed a cooperation agreement not only with MTVA – which, in the unorthodox Hungarian setup, is the main entity associated with public media – but also with Duna Médiaszolgáltató Zrt. (DM), another key public media body which is responsible for broadcasting the programmes produced by MTVA.

According to the contract, the parties agreed to content, technical, and industry cooperation, including staff exchanges, meaning they will “engage in mutual exchanges of personnel, sending individuals to each other’s institutions for training and internships.”

The contract obtained by Átlátszó states that the specific details of this cooperation are governed by additional agreements, which are not in Átlátszó’s possession.

In April 2024, CMG and MTVA signed a memorandum of intent to deepen their collaboration with a new contract, which was officially signed in May 2024.

According to this document, content cooperation was expanded to include “the exchange of news, reports, and documentaries, […] joint media reports on Sino-Hungarian events”, and “co-produced programs on topics of mutual interest such as economics and culture”.

The staff exchange included that both CMG and MTVA will “mutually send personnel to the other party for internship or training purposes.” Under the umbrella of technical cooperation, the parties agreed to jointly “study” the use of AI and “other new technologies in media activities”, and to strengthen technological information exchange.

The contract did not specify how or for what purpose MTVA will study the use of AI in media with the Chinese conglomerate.

Requests for Information

The People’s Daily is the official daily newspaper of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party. In April 2024, it signed a free news exchange agreement with MTVA and DM — the latter of which oversees Hungary’s state news agency, Magyar Távirati Iroda (MTI).

The agreement defined two channels for exchanging news. Under the first, for example MTVA may freely republish any selected news from the current edition of People’s Daily. The second allows either party to suggest news items via email to designated liaisons “periodically or on an ad-hoc basis.”

In May 2024, a new contract expandeded on the “news cooperation” with the following: if one party formally submits a news request, the other may — for an additional fee — gather information and provide news services, even for topics it would not have covered on its own.

Excerpt from one of the contracts

From the text of the contract, Átlátszó could not determine whether this clause allows a party to influence editorial decisionmaking over what gets published at the other one, or whether it describes private intelligence-gathering services one party can purchase from the other. The contract stipulated that any such arrangement must be governed by a separate written agreement — none of which are in Átlátszó’s possession.

The contract also stated that in case of visits by “high-level officials” or similar events, the parties would “cooperate closely” and provide mutual support in news reporting.

The agreement includes provisions for staff and business exchanges (e.g. in “news business, video editing and production, social media, publishing, and translation”) between the People’s Daily and Hungarian public media. These activities must be specified in separate, case-by-case written agreements, which Átlátszó does not possess.

In May 2024, a similar contract was signed by MTVA and DM with Xinhua, China’s state news agency, covering news exchange, fulfilling news requests, reporting on high-level events, staff exchanges, and knowledge transfer.

Long wait for the contracts

Átlátszó’s reporter first requested under a freedom of information procedure to obtain all contracts between Hungarian public media and Chinese partners dating back to 2020 shortly after Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Budapest in May 2024.

MTVA, which produces Hungary’s public media programming, initially refused to release the public records.

The contracts were handed over only after a first-instance and then an appellate court (with final judgment) ordered their release as the result of litigation.

Contracts obtained through litigation can be viewed in full here.

As noted in this article, many of the rather general contracts handed over to Átlátszó mention the existence of additional agreements that detail cooperation on specific areas or occasions.

The October 2023 agreement between China Media Group, DM, and MTVA stated: “the parties will sign a separate agreement regarding the specific cooperation in content, technology, personnel, and industry. This agreement must define the cooperation’s content, method, timing, technical parameters, market aspects, and other related matters.”

Despite the final court ruling, MTVA has not released these supplementary agreements. Átlátszó is planning further legal action in this regard.

Written and translated by Márton Sarkadi Nagy. The Hungarian version of this story is here. Cover photo: Balázs Beregi, MTVA correspondent, on Chinese television channel CTGN (CTGN / YouTube)