State secretary for government communication Zoltán Kovács rejects The Washington Post’s statements about the Hungarian government weakening democratic institutions, reported online portal Index. In his letter addressed to the American daily, Kovács emphasized the major differences between the American and the Hungarian media regulation system, but does not list these.

He also underlines that Fidesz increased its popularity since the elections in April– with the old media law in place. The American paper said in its Monday article that prime minister Viktor Orbán targets the public media and aims to change it into a party media. The writing also calls new Hungarian president Pál Schmitt one of Orbán’s nationalist allies. (BBJ)