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Agnes Urban

@agnesurban.bsky.social
175 followers 88 following 15 posts

Director of Mertek Media Monitor, Associate Professor at Corvinus University of Budapest. Analyzing Hungarian media landscape, monitoring media policy developments.

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Reposted by Agnes Urban
Mertek Media Monitor @mertekmonitor.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
Hungarian public service media has suspended its news service; they are apologizing for the lies of recent years.
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Agnes Urban @agnesurban.bsky.social · 27/02/2026
I am happy to announce that my new Q1 article has been published in Journalism and Media by MDPI. The paper 'Community Building as a Tool for Sustainability in Hungarian Digital Media' describes how community building around media brands helps financial sustainability. www.mdpi.com/2673-5172/7/...
mdpi.com
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Agnes Urban @agnesurban.bsky.social · 13/02/2026
Direkt36's new documentary (THE TRAP), presents Hungary's wasted past 16 years. Hungary used EU funds not to revitalize the country, but to finance the Orbán regime. The film is in Hungarian with English subtitles. www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NQE...
youtube.com
A CSAPDA (THE TRAP) - Az Orbán-korszak elvesztett lehetőségeinek története
YouTube video by Direkt36
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Agnes Urban @agnesurban.bsky.social · 10/02/2026
It was an honor to work with @ruleoflawlab.bsky.social on this very important report.
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Agnes Urban @agnesurban.bsky.social · 05/11/2025
My short comment in The Guardian about the important role of Blikk in the Hungarian media market. Ringier, the publisher of the tabloid was sold to a pro-government owner just a few days ago. Leaving of all international publishers was an unimaginable scenario after the 1990 political transition.
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Agnes Urban @agnesurban.bsky.social · 28/08/2025
Our new paper has been published in @cogitatiomac.bsky.social. The paper is about Megafon which is a Hungarian political influencer group, a typical example for state sponsored disinfo.
cogitatiopress.com
Outsourced Political Campaign: Role of Pro-Government Political Influencers in Spreading Hostile Narratives in Hungary | Article | Media and Communication
Kata Horváth, Gábor Polyák, Ágnes Urbán
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Agnes Urban @agnesurban.bsky.social · 10/06/2025
Media history in Hungary: Valasz Online (a high-quality crowdfunded online magazine launched in 2018) published an exclusive interview with Volodymyr Zelensky. He is absolutely aware that Hungarian PM Viktor Orban builds anti-Ukrainian sentiment in Hungary because of his own electoral purposes.
valaszonline.hu
“Viktor is making a historic mistake.” An exclusive interview with President Zelenskyy | Válasz Online
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Agnes Urban @agnesurban.bsky.social · 15/05/2025
"We are here to stay – Hungary is our country. We do not ask for permission to help those in need, to act for the common good, to write the news, to stand up for those in need, to participate in shaping our own lives, and we do not ask for permission to criticise when we disagree with something."
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Agnes Urban @agnesurban.bsky.social · 28/04/2025
I cannot imagine a more powerful tool in the EU's hands to restore media freedom in Hungary.
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Agnes Urban @agnesurban.bsky.social · 11/04/2025
Agnes Urban, director of Mertek Media Monitor published a paper about the Hungarian media capture (The Restructuring of the Hungarian Media System). The pdf is downloadable. cjssp.uni-corvinus.hu/index.php/cj...
cjssp.uni-corvinus.hu
The Restructuring of the Hungarian Media System | Urbán | Corvinus Journal of Sociology and Social Policy
The Restructuring of the Hungarian Media System
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Agnes Urban @agnesurban.bsky.social · 31/03/2025
"Orbán slowly replaced civil servants with loyalists; used economic pressure and regulation to destroy the free press; robbed universities of their independence, and shut one of them down; politicized the court system; and repeatedly changed the constitution to give himself electoral advantages."
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Agnes Urban @agnesurban.bsky.social · 25/03/2025
HDMO 😍 conference recommendation ⬇️ 🌏 Budapest 🗓 April 2
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Reposted by Agnes Urban
András Tóth-Czifra @minczifra.bsky.social · 17/03/2025
Orban's bill banning the Budapest Pride would allow the authorities to fine not only organizers but also participants (!) As I have said, never before was a better time to go to Hungary, attend this year's pride march in Budapest and call Orban's bluff. www.reuters.com/world/europe...
reuters.com
Hungary's ruling party submits bill to ban Pride march
Hungary's ruling party submitted a bill to parliament on Monday that would ban the Pride march by LGBTQ+ communities and impose fines on organisers and people attending the event which Budapest has held for three decades.
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Reposted by Agnes Urban
Szabolcs Panyi @szabolcspanyi.bsky.social · 15/03/2025
💥Viktor Orbán deployed pure dehumanizing fascist rhetoric in his March 15 speech to threaten his critics: “The stink bugs survived the winter. We'll dismantle the financial machinery that has bought politicians, judges, journalists, fake NGOs and political activists... They've survived too much."
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Agnes Urban @agnesurban.bsky.social · 10/03/2025
For years, many of us have been saying that the Orban regime could be toxic and dangerous for Europe. I didn't think it was so much.
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Reposted by Agnes Urban
Szabolcs Panyi @szabolcspanyi.bsky.social · 08/03/2025
🇪🇺💪14 EU countries, Norway + the European Parliament are standing against Orbán's Russia-style foreign agents law. Huge thanks to @reclaim-eu.bsky.social's Esther Martinez for leading the campaign & to all showing solidarity with 🇭🇺 civil society and journalists. 🔗Source: vsquare.org/orbans-secre...
MAJORITY OF EU MEMBER STATES TAKE A STAND AGAINST HUNGARY’S RUSSIA-STYLE LAW

In our previous issue, I spoke with Reclaim’s Esther Martinez about their campaign to rally EU member states against Viktor Orbán’s Russia-style Sovereignty Protection Act – the same law that created the Sovereignty Protection Office. The key question was how many countries would join the European Commission’s lawsuit against Hungary’s repressive legislation. Now that the deadline for member states to intervene has passed, Reclaim’s latest press release provides a near-final count: “Fourteen EU Member States, Norway and the European Parliament have formally intervened in the European Commission’s lawsuit against Hungary’s anti-NGO law, marking the largest legal mobilization against shrinking democratic space in EU history. Belgium, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Germany, Czech Republic, Poland, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Estonia, Lithuania, Ireland, Spain, and Portugal have officially requested to join the proceedings, and two more governments are expected to back the case when the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) holds its hearing.” This means that a majority of the 27-member bloc is taking a stand. Esther is still hopeful that Malta and Austria will join, with the latter’s government having been sworn in just two days ago, after the deadline for member states to join. One major omission so far is France. Despite its historical role as a champion of European human rights and freedoms, it has chosen not to take part. France has increasingly played both sides when it comes to Orbán, and French companies have benefited from Hungary’s regime.
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Agnes Urban @agnesurban.bsky.social · 23/02/2025
Slava Ukraini! - in Budapest
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