The International Press Institute (IPI) has published a new report examining media reforms in Hungary and their alignment with the European Media Freedom Act (EMFA).
The 2026 country report is part of the Media Capture Monitoring Report, produced annually by IPI and our partner the Media and Journalism Research Center (MJRC).
The report examines how the 2026 election and the landslide defeat of Viktor Orbán and his Fidesz party marked a historic shift in Hungary’s media landscape.
Initial reforms by the Tisza government have included the swift adoption of a modification of the media law (Act XXI of 2026), which implemented key provisions of EMFA on public media and regulatory independence.
This is the third iteration of the Media Capture Monitoring Report, which covers eight European Union countries: Bulgaria, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Spain.
IPI and MJRC have announced a major expansion of the annual report series to all 27 EU Member States shortly, creating a new EMFA implementation monitor.
These reports are intended as a vital resource for media rights organizations, civil society groups, policymakers, and advocates dedicated to monitoring and fostering media freedom across the EU.
Each country assesses the four safeguards in the EMFA that bear most directly on media capture: the independence of public service media, the independence of media regulators, protection against the misuse of state funds to influence the media, and transparency of media ownership and safeguards for media pluralism.
The 2026 edition follows the EMFA’s first year of full application, from August 8, 2025. Written by national experts and edited by MJRC and IPI, the reports are deliberately short: they track what has changed since the 2025 baseline assessment and identify the problems that remain.
The project is part of the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR), a Europe-wide mechanism which tracks, monitors and responds to violations of press and media freedom in EU Member States and Candidate Countries. It is co-funded by the European Commission.
This report was coordinated by IPI and the MJRC as part of IPI’s work under the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR), a Europe-wide mechanism which tracks, monitors and responds to violations of press and media freedom in EU Member States and Candidate Countries
