HISTORY RELATED PROGRAMS IN HUNGARIAN TV CHANNELS DURING A SELECTED WEEK 1–7 May, 2017

THE PROGRAMME OF THE PUBLIC CHANNELS:

Duna Channel

Short general description of the channel:

It is the “national main channel” of the Hungarian public broadcasting system since 15th March 2015. The other public channels had been designated to special programming: news channel, kids channel, sport channel etc. Duna Channel airs historical documentary films (but usually educational documentaries) in the night hours.

More information on the history of Duna Channel (formerly Duna Television): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duna_TV

History-related programmes of the week

There were no programmes scheduled for this week which would deal directly with either the first of May or the end of the Second World War.

Duna Channel showed a German documentary on WWI (May 2, at dawn): Die Macht der Bilder – Lüge und Propaganda im Ersten Weltkrieg (German documentary, 2014) (50 mins)

Additionally, the current episodes (usually repetitions) of the running (historical) documentary series included historical themes like Az én 56-om / ‘My 1956 Revolution’ (5-minute portraits / interviews with participants of the 1956 Hungarian revolution; each day on night hours) and Hagyaték / ‘Legacy’ (documentary programme on Hungarian cultural history and cultural heritage; everyday); and Magyar történelmi arcképcsarnok / ‘Hungarian Historical Portaits’ (on every Saturday, this week the series discussed the life and history of the legendary Hungarian King, Mátyás / Matthias Corvinus from XVth century)

Basically these programmes were all aired during night.

The topics of Hagyaték / ‘Legacy’ documentary / educational programme were the history of Ludovica Academy (Hungary’s military high school and academy; cadets training institute prior to 1945); the siege of Budapest in 1945 and the breakout attempt by the German and Hungarian troops from the Red Army’s encirclement (an event, neo-Nazis usually commemorate as the ‘Day of Honor’); the oeuvre and legacy of Sándor Weöres (Hungarian poet) and Károly Kós (Hungarian architect) and a compilation on Hungarian heroic-historical legends.

M3

Short general description of the channel:

M3 is part of the Hungarian public broadcasting system. It was launched in December 2013 as M3 Anno and operates as “retro” channel focusing on archive programmes of the national public television (reruns of successful series, television plays, entertainment programmes and quiz shows but also documentaries and television dramas). The channel is only available on pay TV.

History-related programmes of the week

Időmetszetek / ‘Time-segments’ (montage-based short compilation documentary programme based on the archives of Hungarian Television and Hungarian News Agency – i.e. montage compilations of photographs with inserted notes / textual information). These films were aired usually during the night. This week the topics were as follows: everyday life in Budapest 1945–1955 and early 1970s; sport events from early 1980s; urban traffic, agricultural life, arts and cultural life in early and mid-1970s; tourism in Hungary in the 1980s.

M5

Short general description of the channel:

M5 is also part of the Hungarian public broadcasting system. It was launched in Autumn 2016. The channel focuses on cultural and educational programmes and documentaries. However, there are not too many programmes in M5 which is dedicated directly to the representation of history and/or the education of historical themes, periods, topic and problems. There are only two programmes which deal with historical and cultural education and one programme which deals with the secrets and events of the 20th century (Soviet) history. The current episodes of these running series were aired but without any connection to WWII or 1^st of May.

History-related programmes of the week

Történelem és irodalom mindenkinek: Tőkéczki és Takaró / ‘History and literature for eveybody: Tőkéczi and Takaró’ (Talks and discussions in a studio. It is organized around two well-known conservative, right-wing public intellectuals, László Tőkéczki and Mihály Takaró.) This week two episodes were screened (repeated): the first one discussed the life of István Tisza (Hungarian politician and primes minister at the early 1900s and during WWI), and the second portaying ‘Hungarian historical colleges’.

A rejtélyes XX. század / ‘Mysterious 20th Century’ (educational documentary series by the professor of Soviet/Russian history, Miklós Kun) This week the series discussed the everydays and politics of the early Khrustchev regime, and a history of a coup against the Soviet party leader – See our detailed analysis of this series in our earlier Observatory Report (Sept 2016).

THE PROGRAMME OF THE COMMERCIAL CHANNELS:

RTL Klub:

Short general description of the channel:

RTL Klub is Hungary’s leading commercial television station, founded in 1997. The station is owned by the Luxemburg-based RTL Media Group. The channel’s main target group is young urban population.

History-related programmes of the week

XXI. század / ‘21st Century’ (a 25-minute long educational/entertainment programme broadcasted weekly. The topics of the programme almost always connected exclusively to the (cultural and political) history of the 20th/21st century. This week the topic was the cultural politics and censorship in Hungary during Socialism.) – See the detailed analysis of this series in our earlier Observatory Report (Sept 2016).

TV2:

Short general description of the channel:

TV2 is the second largest commercial television station in Hungary, which has been operating since 1997. Originally it was owned by the German media conglomerate ProSiebenSat1. After a series of changes in the structure of ownership, TV2 was bought in 2015 by entrepreneurs closely aligned with Fidesz, the governing right-wing party in Hungary. Since the takeover, the station’s news programs broadcast tabloid-style government propaganda.

There were no programmes which were connected to history this week.

THE REPRESENTATION OF HISTORY IN HUNAGRIAN TV CHANNELS’ NEWS PROGRAMMES DURING A SELECTED WEEK

 1–7 May, 2017

History and News on television, May 1 – May 8, 2017

The news shows of the three national channels in Hungary, similar to the contemporary Hungarian political landscape show a radical polarization according to political affiliations. M1 is the official non-commercial station of the Hungarian Television, and this channel has in the last eight years been transformed into an uncritical outlet of the current government. TV2 is owned by businessmen loyal to the current government. Thus, these two stations function according to the perceived political benefits of Orbán’s party, Fidesz. While M1 attempts to create the impression of a more or less informative news station, TV2 runs unabashed tabloid-style news only. On the other hand, RTL Klub in the last few years broadcasts anti-government oriented news shows, mainly because the channel resisted take-over attempts by the businessmen close to the current government. The station has been hit by special taxes by the legislation.

This framework explains why each time history is mentioned in these stations, these news items serve contemporary political goals. As the below listing shows, history has become another battleground in Hungarian internal politics, and these topics related to history are fed to the public to connect political opponents with the pre-1989 state socialist system, thereby discrediting them.

May 1 news shows of the national channels:

M1

– brief mentioning of the anniversary of Hungary joining to the EU via the demonstration of the opposition party, Momentum.

RTL Klub

– brief reference to the fact that Hungary joined the EU on this date in 2004 via the demonstration of the opposition party Momentum. Momentum is a small liberal party not associated with any parliamentary parties of the post-1989 era, that has gained visibility through its insistence of and messages on transparency, and its anti-corruption position. It uses “European-ness” as the central framework to argue that the Hungarian political establishment (both Left and Right) needs to be replaced. The demonstration of the party on this date therefore plays symbolic role, pointing at the need to “Europeanize” Hungarian political life.

– the president of a charity organization has been accused of having worked as an informant of the state socialist secret services. This is discussed in the context of how state socialist services attempted to corrupt priest, who were generally regarded as ideological opponents of the official political orientation. Collaborating priest informed the state on the workings of various other priests. The report mentions that PM Orbán’s wife is an ambassador for the charity organization.

TV2

– No historical topic

May 2 news shows of the national channels:

M1

– no historical topic

RTL Klub

– coverage on the Momentum demonstration from May 1, on the 13^th anniversary of Hungary’s ascent to the EU

TV2

– no historical topics

May 3 news shows of the national channels:

M1

– no historical topic

RTL Klub

– governmental politicians do not see a problem in the fact that the president of the charity organisation “Ökumenikus Segélyszervezet (HIA Hungary)”, László Lehel has been revealed as the collaborator with the pre-1989 state socialist secret services.

– according to the historian Krisztián Ungváry, Gyula Horn, the PM of Hungary between 1994-1998 worked as an agent for the state socialist government. The historian has published this information in order to underline that without the widespread and systematic opening up of the state archives on agents and collaborators, politicians remain vulnerable to blackmailing. The news is contextualizing through a detailed report of Horn’s political career from the 1950s until his role as PM of the country in the 1990s.

TV2

– no historical topic

May 4 news shows of the national channels:

M1

– no historical topic

RTL Klub

– no historical topic

TV2

– no historical topic

May 5 news shows of the national channels:

M1

– no historical topic

RTL Klub

– László Lehel, president of a charity organization has admitted that he has collaborated with the pre-1989 state socialist secret services. The former informant stated that he was asked to consult with the services about matters beneficial to the evangelical church at the time. Lehel states that he was not asked to report on any individual specifically. An interviewed historian confirms this possibility. Lehel has publically apologized for his actions in the past.

TV2

– no historical topic

May 6 news shows of the national channels:

M1

– no historical topic

RTL Klub

– no historical topic

TV2

– no historical topic

May 7 news shows of the national channels:

M1

– no historical topic

RTL Klub

– no historical topic

TV2

– no historical topic

REACTIONS AND CONNECTIONS OF WEB CONTENT TO HISTORY RELATED MATERIALS ON HUNGARIAN TV CHANNELS – ANALISYS OF A SELECTED WEEK

1–7 May, 2017

As you can see from our report on TV programmes, history related content has basically disappeared from Hungarian television in the course of the ten years since we first studied the topic. History related programmes are extremely rare, and most of them are repetitions of old educational programmes, or series that do not have any potential to provoke any reactions from the audience. Most of them are simply used as material to fill out broadcast time, usually during the late or very early hours in the programme.

Because of this, it is impossible to find any meaningful connection to this non-existent historical material on the internet. Years ago, there used to be some historical programmes that had websites, or even printed versions / follow-ups as printed journals. Nothing like that exists anymore. The very drastic and aggressive offensive by the governing party of Hungary against media outlets, the takeover of TV channels by government backed investors, made the Hungarian media (not only TV channels, but the radio and daily newspaper market as well) a propaganda machine of the governing party. Meaningful and quality programming is not part of this concept.

Meanwhile, we tried to find any meaningful trace or reactions on the web to historical topics on TV, the only thing that is worth to mention was related to fictional programming. Although, it is not part of our current research, we believe it is worth to mention. This (very small) discussion took place during this last summer, it started with an interview with a Hungarian historian in one of the printed weekly political magazines.

Professor Pál Fodor, expert of Turkish history and director of the Humanities Research Institute of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, gave an interview to Válasz magazine.[1]

The whole interview was focusing on his proposal to the Hungarian government, television channels, and the film maker community, that suggested that popular, Hungarian history related series should be produced. He was referring to the enormous success of the Turkish produced historical TV series, Suleiman. This series is running on Hungarian TV-channels, and is very successful. The series has a huge following on social media, and the actors of the series have gained celebrity status among Hungarian audiences.

The irony of the situation is that the series tells (a very romanticised version) of a history that was actually, in real life, one of the most devastating times in Hungarian history. The Osman Empire had a not so romantic affair with the history of Hungary.

The reactions, the non-reflective following of the series on social media is a clear indication that the general audience is not aware of the irony of the situation, they have basically no knowledge about Turkish-Hungarian history, that would help them to view these series with more criticism. These series build a very romanticised picture about a benevolent, romance led Osman Empire.

Hence, the historian was complaining that thanks to these very popular series the Hungarian audience will see their own history through the lens of a neo-Osman idealism. And his suggestion was to start to produce popular historical series about Hungarian history. For example, as he said, the 15th century itself, that is the beginning of the struggle against the Osman Empire, would be a very good topic, since it is full of adventurous stories, great historical figures, grandiose battles, and so on.

Actually, no reactions from the film making community and financing bodies, whether they intend to produce such programmes.

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Notes:

[1] http://valasz.hu/itthon/szulejman-helyett-magyar-tortenelmi-filmeket-124115 (11 June 2017)