The Media Research Center has long been a shill for right-wing authoritarian Hungarian leader Viktor Orban — to the point that it partnered with a right-wing Orban-funded think tank in the country in order to further serve this foreign leader and spread his propaganda in the U.S. Tom Olohan — who has previously served as an Orban mouthpiece to help him attack mutual nemesis George Soros — did so again in a Sept. 20 post outraged that independent media outlets were exposing Orban corruption:
U.S. Ambassador to Hungary David Pressman went to bat for a Soros-funded, Hungarian media outlet against Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s government. Pressman just happened to also have dubiously shoveled American taxpayer dollars into that outlet.
Pressman condemned Hungary, a NATO ally, for investigating the so-called independent media outlet Átlátszó which received $197,478 from Soros from 2017 through 2020. Notably, Pressman made these remarks at a Sept. 18 forum sponsored by the Soros-created Central European University’s (CEU) Democracy Institute and the Soros-funded organization Political Capital. Soros has given $1,084,390,977 (yes, over a billion) to CEU between 2016 and 2023 alone. The leftist billionaire also gave $685,123 to Political Capital from 2016 to 2023.
“In Hungary, we find an unironically named ‘Sovereignty Protection Office’ that has publicly announced three investigations,” Pressman said. He went on to mock the Orban government for looking into “the threat to Hungary’s sovereignty posed by … Átlátszó, an independent media outlet, whose name means ‘transparency,’ focused on exposing corruption.”
Moreover, Pressman condemned the Hungarian government’s efforts to block hostile organizations from inundating the country with foreign funds. He lobbed these attacks at a forum that just happened to be put on by two massive beneficiaries of Soros’s largess, arguably one of Orban’s most vehement political opponents.
Olohan has apparently decided, like Orban, that alternative opinions are not allowed in Hungarian media — ironic, since the MRC purports to believe in “free speech”:
Átlátszó is a relentless advocate against Hungarian border security, even attacking the government for focusing on defending the border. In just one article, the publication blaming Hungarian border security for clashes at the border and repeated a claim that people attempting to illegally enter the country “had given no indication that they had hostile intentions.” The Soros-funded publication also reposted an article referring to gender ideology as a “phantom,” mocking attempts to protect Hungarian families.
Átlátszó also took in tens of thousands more in U.S. taxpayer-funded grants, courtesy of Pressman. In fact, Átlátszó and 14 other anti-government media outlets received $320,000 in American taxpayer dollars.
This was the product of a Pressman-managed fund that entrusted two Soros-funded groups—Ökotárs Foundation and media watchdog Mérték Media Monitor—to pick Átlátszó and other recipients of tax dollars in 2024. Leftist billionaire George Soros had given $306,147 to the Ökotárs Foundation and $88,113 to Mérték Media Monitor from 2017 to 2022.
Olohan further attacked Pressman like Orban was supplying his talking points:
This is only the first round of Pressman’s wasteful abuse of taxpayer dollars to interfere in the culture and politics of Hungary. Pressman frequently inveighs against Orban at events and on social media. He also tries to impose leftist cultural values on the country. Pressman attended and even hosted pro-LGBTQ events at which he attacked Orban and members of his political party Fidesz.
Pressman’s remarks at the forum were littered with further attacks on Orban’s government accusing it of creating an “atmosphere of fear.” Pressman also personally attacked Orban’s son, mocked Orban for seeking peace in Ukraine and said that Hungary was in the midst of a democratic crisis.
Ludicrously, Pressman took issue with Hungarian rhetoric against the European Union (EU) as if the EU had not recently fined Hungary $223 million plus massive additional daily fines for refusing to let their country be invaded by migrants.
Olohan offered no evidence that anything Pressman said about Orban and his authoritarian government is inaccurate. Indeed, given Orban’s iron grip on government, attacks on minorities and suppression of dissent, Hungary is in fact in a democratic crisis.
Olohan concluded by huffing: “With all these collaborations with the Soros empire, it’s unclear why Pressman is arguing as if anyone should take him seriously as an objective critic of the Orban government.” But Olohan forgot to disclose to readers that his employer has partnered with the Center for Fundamental Rights, a Hungarian group that is effectively funded by Orban’s government — which we can assume means it’s carrying Orban’s water and adheres to pro-Orban narratives — so there’s no reason anyone should take him seriously as an objective defender of the Orban government.