Exposed: How the Dollar Media Tried to Bury Tisza MEP’s Scandalous Statements

Reports on the Tisza MEP's statements began only after more than 24 hours of media silence on the issue - starting partially with a ministerial reaction during the government’s weekly press briefing, and partially with an attempt by party chief Peter Magyar to explain the situation. In the meantime, there had been no mention of the scandalous statements made by Kinga Kollar, MEP of the TISZA Party. Magyar Nemzet presents the details in chronological order.

Tisza Party MEP Kinga Kollar (Source: Facebook)

“The Tisza Party MEP admitted to causing damage to Hungary to help their own party,”  this was the headline of Magyar Nemzet Online's article, which did report on the scandalous remarks made by MEP Kinga Kollar. To reap, at the meeting of the EP Committee on Budgetary Control, the MEP of Peter Magyar’s party stated that withholding EU funds was, in her view, working effectively, as it hampers the development of Hungary’s economy, leading to the suspension of investments and hospital renovations. According to the Tisza politician, the "bright side" is that the worsening quality of life in Hungary is benefiting their opposition party.

Interestingly, while the Brussels correspondent of the left-wing-leaning Nepszava wrote a detailed article on the committee debate Monday evening, for some reason, Kollar's speech with the stipulated statements was omitted.

According to our summary, following the news breaking Wednesday morning, over 100 articles were published about the issue that very same day across various media outlets.

Yet, on Wednesday, the leftist-liberal media world remained entirely silent on the matter — even though both MEPs Kinga Kollar and Marton Hajdu, head of the Tisza Brussels delegation, had already started issuing clarifications online.

Meanwhile, Kollar in Sopron and Peter Magyar, on his national campaign tour, refused to answer journalists' questions on the topic.

On Thursday morning, during the regular government press briefing, Minister Gergely Gulyas, head of the Prime Minister’s Office, was asked to comment on Kollar’s Brussels remarks. Telex reported on this at 10:43 a.m.: “The pro-government media recently covered in detail that Tisza MEP Kinga Kollar allegedly said at a Brussels committee meeting that withholding EU funds is working effectively because it halts the development of the Hungarian economy, causing delays in investments and hospital renovations. Kollar responded that nearly every speech she has given in the European Parliament was aimed at ensuring that EU funds arrive in Hungary as soon as possible.” Telex, a "dollar media" outlet receiving funding from the U.S. and Brussels, notably used the word “allegedly” about a speech that was recorded, is publicly accessible and easily verifiable.

By 1 p.m. on Thursday, Telex finally began covering Peter Magyar’s reaction in more detail, publishing an article whose title [in English translation] reads: “Peter Magyar responds to accusation that TISZA MEP welcomes the withholding of EU funds.” Interestingly, between 10:43 a.m. and 1 p.m., their previously expressed doubts disappeared, and the translation of what they subsequently wrote reads: “Kollar indeed said during a Brussels committee meeting that she considers the withholding of EU funds effective, as it hinders the development of the Hungarian economy and delays investments and hospital renovations.”

One may ask why these remarks were only recognized as factual once the Tisza Party leader began offering explanations.

This marked a turning point in the liberal media’s silence — articles began appearing without delay. Magyar Narancs Online, 444, and even Nepszava picked up the story. The portal Szeretlek Magyarorszag reported on Peter Magyar’s reaction without quoting Kollar’s original statements.

HVG also reported on the issue for the first time Thursday at 2 p.m. The outlet is known to be closely aligned with Peter Magyar, to the point where he sometimes knows and shares results of polls conducted for HVG before the outlet publishes them.

The leftist-liberal media’s silence was not only noticed by our paper.

Political analyst Attila Tibor Nagy, who has appeared at several Tisza protests, also criticized the situation on the show Nap Hire:

“Let me highlight two aspects regarding the case of Kollar’s remarks. First, the behavior of the so-called independent media or sites claiming to be independent. Peter Magyar is very fortunate in this scandal, as these sites didn’t report — or at least not prominently — on Kinga Kollar’s statements. On Thursday morning, I checked the Telex search: there was no article on Kollar’s statement. (…) On 444.hu’s front page, there were reports about Peter Magyar’s rallies, but Kinga Kollar's remarks were nowhere to be seen. I don’t consider this to be good. (…) These sites would be more credible if they also reported on scandals that are uncomfortable for Peter Magyar. But they don’t — or at least not prominently. This, in effect, dulls the blow of the scandal.”