Pro-Orban media holding buys Hungary's most popular newspaper before the election

The Swiss media group Ringier has sold its Hungarian assets to Indamedia Network, a private media holding company affiliated with the ruling Fidesz party and Prime Minister Viktor Orban. This was reported on the website Ringier .

The deal covers one of the country's most famous media outlets – the daily Blikk, women's magazines Kiskegyed and Glamour, health portal EgészségKalauz.hu, automotive magazine Auto Bild, as well as a number of TV applications and online platforms. The Swiss have retained only the employment service Profession.hu and the sports website Sportal.hu.

Indamedia is owned equally by Miklós Vasili and Gábor Ziegler. Vasili is a former head of the state-owned MTVA television, and currently the director of the private TV2 channel, which has a pro-government reputation. According to Reuters, he is a government supporter and has ties to businessman Lerinc Meszaros, one of Orban's closest allies.

In 2020, Indamedia gained control of the largest news portal Index.hu through a subsidiary. After that, the editor-in-chief was fired, and almost the entire journalistic staff resigned in protest.

According to estimates by Reporters Without Borders, about 80% of Hungarian media outlets are now under the direct or indirect influence of the Orban government and its allies.

The deal to buy Ringier Hungary was closed on October 30, 2025, less than six months before the parliamentary elections.

• In April 2026, for the first time in a decade and a half, Orban could lose the election.
• His party is lagging behind the new Tisa party, created by opposition leader Péter Magyar, according to various polls, from seven to 18 percentage points. At the same time, pro-government sociologists report that Fidesz has a lead.