The Government regards the fact that publisher Mediaworks suspended the publication of the printed and online editions of newspaper Népszabadság on Saturday as a purely economic decision.

Minister of State for Government Communication Bence Tuzson told Hungarian news agency MTI on Saturday that Népszabadság had accumulated 5 billion forints in losses in recent years and “the Government would in no way like to infringe on the freedom of the press by becoming involved in the publisher’s decision”. “The true violation of the freedom of the press would be if the Government interfered with the decision of a media operator”, he highlighted.

“We understand the protests by the Hungarian Socialist Party in view of the fact that the paper was owned by the MSZP for years, but they recently sold it”, Mr. Tuzson added in reaction to the fact that the socialists were organising a protest in front of the paper’s headquarters on Saturday evening.

Publisher Mediaworks announced in the morning that it was temporarily suspending the publication of both the printed and online editions of Népszabadság on Saturday “until the creation and implementation of a new concept” and “to enable everyone involved to concentrate on this key task”.

(MTI)