Key conclusions
■ While in 2012 almost 80% of adults claimed that the domestic media concealed certain phenomena, in 2013 this ratio had declined to 74.5%. Simultaneously, the share of those who perceive that all news are reported commensurately with their importance has risen from 13.5% to 18%. Respondents who support the governing parties are generally less likely to believe that certain facts are concealed by the media, probably because they have access to a wider variety of news sources that reflect their own views.
■ A third of Hungarian society feels persistently that the intertwinement between media and politics is on the rise. Nevertheless, the ratio of those who perceive that the situation has improved in this regard has also increased since last year, though only slightly. When it comes to respondents’ assessment of the intertwinement between politics and media, individual party preferences undeniably play a huge role: almost three quarters of those who feel that there has been an improvement in this area would vote for Fidesz.
■ Almost all television channels have experienced declining viewership, with public television channels suffering the greatest drop. Among the two new channels, RTL2 was surprisingly often mentioned. Not even a year has gone by since the channel was launched and already 22% of respondents designated it as a news source.
■ The importance of internet portals has grown substantially. All newsportals were more widely read in 2013 than in the previous year. Though data from two years does not allow for drawing conclusions about emerging trends, it is reasonable to assert that in terms of the consumption of public affairs related content, the role of internet portals is steadily on the rise.
■ Far-right kuruc.info’s mention by 3% of respondents appears exceedingly high, especially since the same number cited Népszabadság, the country’s highest circulation broadsheet as a source of news.
■ The past year also saw an increase in the number of listeners who tune into political and public affairs shows broadcast by radio stations. In spite of the elimination of Neo FM, however, the proportion of those who mentioned Class FM as a source of news rose by a mere 6%. Still, with the exception of Lánchíd Rádió all news radios have expanded their reach. Among newspapers only regional dailies achieved some growth in their numbers of readers, while other press products faced stagnant consumption levels. Only a negligible fraction of Hungarian society turns to national political dailies as their source of news, and the most influential daily newspaper continues to be the tabloid Blikk.
■ The assessment of public television has improved, albeit only slightly. At the same time, a significant majority (55%) of those who hold that their broadcasts are improving are supporters of the governing Fidesz-KDNP parties, with a mere 8% of likely MSZP voters reporting such an impression. Among those who perceived a decline in the quality of public programming, however, some 20% would vote for MSZP, and another 16% for Együtt-PM.
■ In the context of Hungarian society’s media consumption habits, we distinguish four groups, just as we did in last year’s analysis. As compared to the previous year, we observed significant changes, social media consumption patterns are undergoing obvious transformations. Since this survey was performed last year, the share of those who regularly turn to outlets in all types of media has nearly doubled. Another significant change is that the ratio of those who obtain their information exclusively from the two commercial television channels has declined by almost 10%, though roughly half the public still falls into this category. Another two subsets of the public are those that consume all types of media with the exception internet-based outlets, and those who exclusively rely on the world wide web for their media consumption; there are only minor changes in the sizes of these two groups as compared to the previously observed figures.
■ The process wherein consumers tend to follow media that reflect and reinforce their own pre-existing views has intensified further. In the context of political weeklies, this is most eminently apparent in data on media consumption that crosses the political aisles, which reveals that the practice of reading magazines from both sides of the political divide has nigh ceased. Among the individuals that still engage in this practice, those with a primary focus on left-wing media are more likely to follow right-wing media than vice versa.
■ There is a clear correlation between the willingness to vote in parliamentary elections and media consumption patterns. Among the four large groups of media consumers, 62% of those in the category consuming all types of media plan on certainly voting, while only 8% indicated that they definitely do not plan to participate in a parliamentary election. Among those who watch the two commercial channels, the ratio is dramatically different, however: a mere 39% intend to cast a ballot and 25% say they would not vote in a parliamentary election.