Translation of “TV2 smothers opposition voice” appearing in online daily index.hu on April 4th.
(Media monitoring body) Mérték Médiaelemző Műhely has compared the evening programs of three national television stations. At the request of RTL Hungary, it has been comparing RTL news broadcasts with those of TV2 (Hungary’s second-largest commercial television station owned by Fidesz oligarch Andy Vajna-tran.) and public television channel Duna TV.
The study compares the number of seconds devoted by the channels to discussion of government and opposition sides, writes the statement. The analysis examines the period between February 21st and March 27th.
The study’s result, which is not at all surprising, is that the government’s voice appears on TV2 and Duna TV news broadcasts in a much greater proportion at the expense of the opposition. For example, during the first week examined, 11 percent of the TV2 newscast Tények (“Facts”) was devoted to the opposition, and 89 percent to the government!
Duna TV evening news was less biased. There the time allotted to the opposition (measured in seconds) reached as much as 30 or 35 percent. Not once during the five-week period did it fall to under 19 percent, which, by the way, was Tények’s second-best result during the examined period.
The media analysis ordered by RTL showed that RTL’s news broadcasts were the most balanced. There were weeks in which the two political sides appeared in precisely 50-50 ratio. At its most imbalanced, 42 percent of airtime was devoted to the opposition and 58 percent to the government.
Analysis of live discussion yielded a similar result in the case of the three channels’ news programs. RTL News came out the least biased, whereas Tények placed the greater emphasis on the government’s voice. By comparison, Duna TV’s news coverage seemed more balanced.
Meanwhile, government party media analysis claims that the government party media is more and more correct, and that the Hungarian press is much freer than believed abroad. We wrote about the results of a media monitor close to Fidesz in this article.