Hungary's Fidesz Attacks Sanoma CEO

  • 6 Aug 2013 9:00 AM
Hungary's Fidesz Attacks Sanoma CEO
Reports that media concern Sanoma plans to convert its existing TV channel Story4 into a political news channel prompted Fidesz communications director Máté Kocsis to accuse György Szabó, head of Sanoma Media Budapest, of trying to use the media to influence next year’s elections.

Kocsis cited a news item of ten days ago which said that Szabó, head of the Hungarian operations of the Finnish media company, tried to persuade other media leaders at a meeting on July 25 to form a united front against the government, in part in response to the planned tax on advertising.

Kocsis suggested that Szabó wants to distort the Hungarian media market and to influence the elections by misleading viewers and readers, and that he has good relations with former prime ministers Ferenc Gyurcsány and Gordon Bajnai.

Sanoma is the publisher of the magazines Best, Cosmopolitan, Elle, Heti TV Újság, Marie Claire, and Nõk Lapja, among others.

Source: Hungary Around the Clock

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