The Hungarian Prime Minister is lying without batting an eye when talking about why he won't give an interview to Telex

A video was released on Wednesday afternoon, in which Viktor Orbán says that he would only give an interview to Telex if it were "not financed from abroad." The Prime Minister added that those who receive money from abroad are "commissioned people ", "hirelings", and that, in his opinion, there is no point in having a conversation that doesn't involve two sovereign individuals sitting across from each other. These statements are not only offensive, but are also deliberately misleading. They are offensive because they discredit Hungarian readers and journalists, and they are misleading because the Prime Minister knows full well that what he is saying is a lie.

When he talks about why he doesn't give interviews to Telex, Orbán is lying and deliberately misleading the Hungarian people. His claim that Telex is "financed from abroad" is simple political propaganda—a nice-sounding excuse for not having to answer the questions of independent journalists. Our transparency report, cited in the brief clip, shows that less than ten percent of our income comes from foreign grants, and even those are from countries or organizations allied with Hungary. Yet Orbán dismisses this by saying, “Let's drop the fairy tales. It's all part of the Soros network, it's the same bunch we've been fighting against.”

The facts, however, are perfectly clear. Telex's operations are completely transparent. For years, we have been voluntarily publishing detailed transparency reports – much more detailed than required by law. Our funding is publicly visible, and more than 90 percent of our revenue comes from the market: advertising, commercial revenue (webshop, book sales, event ticket sales), and reader support. Our readers' contributions make up about 30 percent of our revenue, 99 percent of which were donations of less than 15,000 forints. Since Telex was launched, nearly 70,000 people have supported us either occasionally or on a regular basis. Last year, the highest single contribution was 500,000 forints (1300 euros). Foreign grants account for less than 10 percent of our revenue, and those funds all come from public, legal grants, mostly from the European Union or countries allied with Hungary.

Telex operates in full compliance with Hungarian law: we prepare a public report every year, our finances are reviewed by an auditor, and we do all this while the authorities are keeping a close eye on our operations. We have to do our work in a regular and transparent manner, paying close attention to even the smallest details, which is exactly what we are doing. Thus, our operations are legal, transparent, and audited.

And if all this weren't enough proof: Telex received 580,563,356 forints (slightly more than 1,4 million euros) this year from 40,000 donors who directed 1 percent of their personal income tax to us. This means that we received the largest amount from 1 percent tax donations ever donated to any Hungarian civil society or public benefit organization. This amount and this trust alone disprove the Prime Minister's false claim: the Hungarian people have decided for themselves and they support the independent press.

When speaking these lies, the Prime Minister is not only attacking Telex, but he is also disregarding and humiliating our advertisers, hundreds of thousands of our readers, our 70,000 supporters, and the 40,000 Hungarians who donated 1 percent of their income tax to us.

Viktor Orbán is well aware that what he is saying is a lie – and it is no coincidence that he keeps repeating it. The goal of the smear campaign is obvious: to make it impossible for independent editorial offices to do their work. If he can convince people that independent journalism is "controlled from abroad," it will be easier to restrict funding through grants, to cut off access to the advertising market, and to exert legal and regulatory pressure on independent media outlets. This is no coincidence: the state is Hungary's biggest advertiser, and the distribution of advertising is often based on political considerations, which means that revenue opportunities are becoming increasingly limited for the independent press.

The government is currently waging a campaign to take away opportunities from independent editorial offices. They want to restrict access to grants from abroad, they are talking about "foreign agents" in order to stigmatize journalists—and there is no telling what other forms of harassment are still to come from the authorities. The goal is clear: to ensure that no questions can be asked, no accountability can be demanded, and no one can be held to account.

However, it is not the government or any state authority that will be the judge of our work, but our readers. And they turn to us whenever receiving reliable information matters most: during elections, wars, an epidemic, or during protests – in October, for the first time in our paper's history, Telex's front front page attracted the most readers in the country. According to a survey by the Reuters Institute at the University of Oxford, Hungarians consider Telex to be one of the most reliable sources of news, which is confirmed by our readership every single day.

Like Vladimir Putin, Viktor Orbán is not defending his nation's sovereignty when attacking the free press, but rather his own power. And with this recent video and the lies he tells in it, the Hungarian Prime Minister is not just attacking Telex, but also our readers, viewers, and supporters. When Orbán says he is fighting against us, he is fighting against all truth-seeking, free-thinking, independent people. And that is who Telex is serving. Telex is serving you, our readers.

Another reason why the Prime Minister's statement is completely absurd is because no one can influence our work or the content of our articles. He knows this better than anyone, because when his people came and tried this at our previous workplace, we all resigned.

Our goal is to find out if someone is stealing from you, deceiving you, or misleading you, and to help you make decisions with accurate, verified information. If necessary, we will go all the way to ask real questions of those in power. Contrary to the Prime Minister's lies, we report the facts— we work for those who have a right to know what is happening around them.

Telex exists because you want it to. We started with the support of our readers, and we will continue to write as long as you stand by us. Help support the free press with your regular contributions!