Index.hu, Hungary’s most popular news portal, has been operating under its current name since 1999. Its history dates back to 1995 when a local sociologist created Internetto, a website covering IT-related issues.
Media assets
News portal: Index.hu
State Media Matrix Typology: Captured Private (CaPr)
Ownership and governance
Index.hu is owned by the For Hungarian Development Foundation, which is controlled by Laszlo Bodolai, who has worked as Index’s lawyer for a long time. This ownership structure, co-owned by two companies controlled by local independent entrepreneurs, was believed to secure the website’s editorial independence.
Another company, Indamedia, handles the website’s business activities, specifically the management of its advertising revenues. In July 2020, Miklos Vaszily, a businessman known for his close association with Prime Minister Viktor Orban, acquired Indamedia. This move was aimed at indirectly taking control of the portal. Vaszily is an oligarch who, over the past decade, organized the purchase of private media companies that are now part of the Fidesz-run media empire supportive of the government.
Source of funding and budget
Thanks to its popularity, Index.hu has been funding itself through commercial revenues, mostly advertising, according to local journalists and experts who worked for the portal interviewed for this report in March 2023. It has also organized a few successful crowdfunding campaigns in its recent history.
Editorial independence
Since 2010, the Hungarian government has controlled a media empire through its oligarchs. Index was the last major independent media in Hungary for a long time. Index created a governance structure to protect its editorial independence, the Foundation that owns the portal. However, in July 2020, the company managing the website’s commercial sales was purchased, which led to the loss of Index’s editorial independence.
After the deal, the board president, Bodolai, likely under pressure from the government, agreed to have the portal’s editor fired. This decision led to the resignation of almost the entire Index newsroom. Local journalists and experts interviewed for this report saw this as the end of Index’s editorial independence.
The CEO of Index.hu is Akos Starcz, who is associated with businesses controlled by Fidesz, the political party of Prime Minister Viktor Orban. He is a strong supporter of Orban’s oligarchy and sits on the boards of other companies owned by businessmen associated with Fidesz, such as the book publishing company Libri. In April 2024, Starcz was appointed the chairman of Libri’s board.
There is no domestic statute establishing Index’s editorial independence after its journalists resigned en masse in July 2020. There is no independent assessment or oversight mechanism to validate Index’s editorial independence after the mass resignations of its journalists in July 2020.
August 2024