Two Journalistic Cultures in One Country. The Case of Hungary in the Light of Journalists’ Discourses on Fake News

Abstract

We argue that in Hungary—a country evincing a very high level of political polarisation and a very low level of public trust in the media—two media systems have emerged with two distinct journalistic cultures. The journalists of the state media system play a collaborative, while those of the market media system a monitorial role. Based on in-depth interviews with award-winning journalists and editors-in-chief, we explore how media professionals perceive the problem of fake news and suggest that fake news accusations have been instrumentalised as a discursive strategy to discredit the rival understanding of “good journalism.” According to our findings, journalists think that fake news stories, including disinformation campaigns serving Russian interests, are widespread in Hungary and make the voter unable to decide which of the competing media narratives is more accurate. Because of a high level of political polarisation and a low level of public trust in the media, the Hungarian case shows like a magnifying glass some of the problems associated with fake news.

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