Contested and captured information spaces can shape choices long before voters enter the polling station. The answer is not control over speech, but stronger democratic resilience.
‘Public media shouldn’t lie. We’re sorry for doing it for years. Public media is going through a change so it can be independent and trustworthy in the future. Broadcasting is paused for a while. Stay with us!!’
This is the message that has been broadcast by the Hungarian state TV channel M1 TV when it halted its news programme transmission on 7 July 2026.
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