V4NA
V4NA is a company registered in London that operates the news portal V4na.hu. The portal covers news from Central and Eastern Europe with a focus on the four Visegrad countries: Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, and Czechia.
Media assets
Online portal: V4 Agency
State Media Matrix Typology
Ownership and governance
V4NA was founded by a group of Hungarian business leaders and politicians close to Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. According to Reuters, Hungary’s ambassador to the UK, Kristóf Szalay-Bobrovniczky, registered the company in 2018.
Reportedly, Árpád Habony, a long-time political strategist and informal adviser to Orbán, acquired 40% of the company through his London-registered company Danube Business Consulting. Ownership originally included Szalay-Bobrovniczky, but he sold his shares as part of that shift.
Now, V4NA is registered in the UK as a subsidiary of Mediaworks, a publishing company previously owned by Lőrinc Mészáros, Orbán’s closest business ally.
Source of funding and budget
It is reported that V4NA receives state-linked funding to operate. The Hungarian government has supported various media outlets aligned with its narratives, via foundation channels etc., and monitors and reports often classify V4NA among those.
Officially, the company registered in the UK didn’t disclose its turnover in the latest filing for the financial year 2024. It listed one employee in the UK. Despite its ambitions to be an “international news agency”, investigations, by Átlátszó.hu, among others, suggest that V4NA’s actual foreign correspondent network may be minimal, and that while the company is formally registered in the UK, much of the operation is located in Hungary (Budapest).
Editorial independence
From its inception, V4NA’s editorial line has clearly leaned pro-government, reflecting the perspectives and rhetorical style of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and his circle. For example, many headlines and translated content emphasize themes such as immigration, national identity, and criticisms of liberal/multicultural policies in Western Europe.
Critical observers have flagged that much of V4NA’s content consists of translations, selection of existing reporting, and sometimes narratives that mirror government communications, rather than independent investigative journalism.
September 2025