Swiss media group Ringier has sold Hungary's most-read tabloid and other major titles to a company widely seen as close to Prime Minister Viktor Orban's ruling Fidesz party.

Ringier said it sold its Hungarian media division, Ringier Hungary Kft., which owns 18 online publications, including the tabloid Blikk, EgeszsegKalauz.hu and Kiskegyed, to the Indamedia Network.

The sale comes just months ahead of Hungarian national elections, where Orban faces a rare challenge to his 15-year rule.

Why is the sale to Indamedia controversial?

Miklos Vaszily, who is chairman and CEO of pro-government private channel TV2, ownes 50% of Indamedia channel TV2.

In 2020, Vaszily presented a plan to restructure the editorial office of Index, by far the most widely read news portal in Hungary and managed by Indamedia.

When journalists resisted, the editor-in-chief, Szabolcs Dull, was dismissed at the end of July. Days later, almost the entire editorial staff resigned in solidarity. 

A new editorial team has since taken over. In recent years, Index has published several critical reports about opposition figures, often based on anonymous sources or disputed documents.

Vaszily recently joined one of the digital platforms Orban created earlier this year as he stepped up his political campaign.

Ringier's exit fuels concerns over Hungary's Free Media

One of those targeted by Index, opposition leader Peter Magyar, has condemned the deal between Ringier and Indamedia, accusing Orban's Fidesz of taking control of Hungary's last major independent outlets.

"Orban and his allies are so terrified of losing the election, they are no longer even trying to keep up appearances," he wrote on Facebook.

Hungary ranks 68th in the Reporters Without Borders Press Freedom Index.

"Thanks to political and economic maneuvers and the buyout of media outlets by oligarchs with close ties to Fidesz, the ruling party, the latter now controls 80% of the country's media," RSF said.

Edited by: Sean Sinico