Chairman of the Hungarian national news agency MTI Matyas Vince called for the fortification of public-service media in an interview to be published in Thursday’s issue of weekly Magyar Narancs sent to MTI on Wednesday.
Vince said that in order to “reduce the inevitable but adverse effects of the activities of economic and political forces” the media organisations which provide a public service should be strengthened, not least as their task becomes difficult with the number of viewers and listeners being “less than desirable”.
Asked about the role of a national news agency in light of the lack of such institutions in many western countries, Vince pointed to the requirement for such a service in the Hungarian constitution.
“Currently it is a constitutional requirement to operate at least one institution for delivering public service news,” he said.
In response to recent rumours carried by the press that opposition Fidesz would eliminate MTI if it gained power in the spring elections, Vince said Fidesz’s spokesman had clearly denied such plans.
Addressing the challenges of a digital age, Vince said that the internet has been “both a curse and a blessing” for MTI. A curse, as verified information, which is costly, has lost its value, but a blessing as internet portals have brought on new clients. MTI has tripled the number of its clients over the past three years, Vince told the paper.
Vince noted that MTI has 350 employees, as opposed to the much higher number misprinted in the article in Thursday’s Magyar Narancs, which the paper has promised to correct in its next issue.