On the celebration of the founding of the state, we commemorate the recognition that a country’s future is shaped not only by its leaders but also by strong, lasting institutions, the President of the Republic said in his ceremonial address on Thursday evening. Speaking at length about public media, András Baka remarked that today we, too, must build such institutions — ones that serve not those in power at any given time, but the citizens.

In his address broadcast on M1 before the fireworks display, the head of state emphasised that the quality of a state is ultimately revealed by how the institutions that its citizens encounter day after day actually function. He added that public media is one such institution, and it is therefore of particular significance that it was precisely on Thursday that the full news service was launched in its renewed form.

The President of the Republic recalled that on 7 July, the public media screen went dark — “the previously loud, brash, flickering surface fell silent” — and all that remained on the black background was the message: public media must not lie; we apologise for having done so nonetheless for many long years. Rarely does television say so much by being unable to say anything at all, he added.

According to András Baka, the silence that replaced the news service was a kind of boundary line — marking the end of one thing and the promise of something new beginning. On Thursday, a month and a half later, the news service resumed, and “now it will become clear what use was made of this silence.”

The President of the Republic stressed that the restart alone is not enough; it is not enough to produce new programmes or place new faces in front of the cameras. As he put it, public media faces a far more difficult task: it must regain the trust of the people.

He emphasised that this trust cannot simply be declared — it can only be earned. He added that if a public service broadcaster deliberately suppresses, distorts, or misinforms, that is one of the gravest offences against society.

In his words, for millions of people in Hungary, public media is the primary — and for many, virtually the only — source of news. Those who relied on it for information had every right to trust that they were being told the truth, that important facts were not being withheld from them, and that others were not deciding on their behalf what they could learn about their country and the world.

The President of the Republic said that if this trust has been damaged, the responsibility does not lie with the people. He made clear that placing trust in a public service outlet is not a mistake — but abusing that trust is a grave responsibility.

He stated that anyone who conceals or falsifies information is not merely deciding what will appear in the evening news, but is constructing an artificially built reality on the basis of which millions of people make their decisions. He stressed that the role of a democratic state is not to decide on behalf of its citizens, but to create the conditions in which they can decide for themselves.

According to András Baka, this requires making facts, differing opinions, and all those perspectives freely accessible and available, so that each person can find their own bearings in the world. He emphasised that anyone who takes away people’s freedom of choice deprives them of a part of their human dignity.

On the subject of press freedom, the President of the Republic said that it is not simply the journalist’s right to speak, but also the citizen’s right to knowledge — to have a basis on which to form an opinion and the opportunity to think differently. He noted that there is an old legal principle which states: let the other party also be heard.

He highlighted that this is important not only in law but also in public life, since — as he put it — that simple sentence contains the recognition that being listened to is part of the other person’s dignity. He added that we can expect no more, but no less, from public service broadcasting: it should tell the truth and hear the other side as well.

András Baka put it this way: what makes propaganda propaganda is not which political side it serves, but that it serves politics at all. In his view, the true measure of change will not be whether we hear different opinions from now on, but whether a public media emerges where no one can ever again decide what reality should be on the basis of political interests.

He stressed that a free public sphere must be defended not only when it is convenient for us, but also when it is uncomfortable. As he said, the credibility of public media “cannot be solemnly proclaimed today” — it will be demonstrated by the news coverage of the coming weeks, months and years.

According to the President of the Republic, real change will be perceptible when a journalist no longer even thinks to ask themselves whether something is permitted. “If something is true, of public interest, and honestly uncovered, then it is not only permitted — it is a duty,” he said.

András Baka also spoke about how a free state does not take away the burden of decision-making but rather provides the opportunity for it, and that public media must not lie.

The purpose of public media is simple: to create a public sphere that respects the freedom and judgment of the citizen.

“This is what I wish for the relaunching public media, and this is what I wish for all of us,” the head of state said, closing his speech.

Artificial intelligence was used for the translation of parts of the original Hungarian text.