Alongside the creation of a new organisational framework, three fundamental measures will be launched at Hungary’s public media outlets, ministerial commissioner Judit Grósz said in an interview published Monday by Kreatív Online.

Minister for Social Relations and Culture Zoltán Tarr announced on 8 June that Judit Grósz would coordinate public media-related affairs in her role as ministerial commissioner. Kreatív asked the commissioner about the first steps concerning public media.

“Following the legislative amendment, three immediate steps will begin simultaneously and in parallel: ending propaganda news services, conducting an institutional audit and uncovering financial irregularities, as well as introducing new principles for news reporting on the basis of which the news service can be renewed. To achieve all this, we will first appoint a new interim leadership until the legitimate leadership of public media is selected through an open competition,” Judit Grósz told the publication.

She also said that the institutional audit would be among the first measures launched, with decisions on the scope of its publication and extent to be made by the interim leadership.

She added that it would be irresponsible to comment on staff reductions before the audit is completed, as the real situation must first be assessed.

“Anyone who actively participated in professional or financial misconduct must naturally face the consequences; this is not a matter of workforce reductions,” she said.

Speaking about public consultation regarding public media, she explained that it would be a transparent process based on professional and civil participation, with the detailed format still under development. “The goal is for the concept developed in this way to be implemented by the leadership selected through the open competition,” she said. Measuring the efficiency of public spending is also an objective.

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