Brussels, June 11, 2026—Ahead of a meeting with Hungarian officials on June 16, the Committee to Protect Journalists urges European Union member states to encourage Prime Minister Péter Magyar’s new government to rebuild the national media landscape by fully aligning future reforms with EU law and recommendations. 
Magyar’s Tisza party won April elections, ousting Viktor Orbán and his Fidesz party after 16 years in power, and the new government has committed to rule-of-law reforms required by Brussels to unblock frozen EU funds .
Strengthening media freedom and pluralism in Hungary must now also be prioritized, CPJ said.
“Orbán’s capture of the Hungarian media landscape turned much of the press into de facto propaganda mouthpieces for the Fidesz party,” said Tom Gibson, CPJ’s deputy advocacy director, EU.
“This restricted Hungarians’ access to information, and severely undermined Hungarian democracy, as well as the functioning of the European Union institutions. At a moment of major political change, Hungary has the potential not only to repair the damage, but also, if reform is effective, to be a model for press freedom in Europe.”
In next week’s meeting, EU member states should raise the status of planned legislative reforms, or any other non-legislative measures, including those relating to: the National Media and Infocommunications Authority and the Media Council ; public service media and the state-owned Media Support and Asset Management Fund; and state advertising, ownership transparency, and limits on market concentration.
EU member states should also ask how media and civil society will be included meaningfully in legislative consultations.
After the 2019 European elections, the European Commission established several EU-wide media reforms: the European Media Freedom Act (EMFA) seeks to limit media capture in member states; the anti-SLAPP Directive aims to curb the spread of vexatious lawsuits known as Strategic Lawsuits Against Publ

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