How a Tiny Newsroom Helped Bring Down Hungary’s Authoritarian Leader

Viktor Orbán’s authoritarian grip on Hungary became a model for the American right. He hollowed out the country’s democracy and turned much of the media into a government megaphone. Then a small newsroom called Direkt36 exposed a plot against the opposition party involving a mysterious political operative, a young IT worker, a raid on a boat in the Danube and a whistleblowing police captain. A few weeks later, Orbán was ousted from power in a landslide election. 

Sean Cole reports on the investigation, called the Hungarian Watergate, and what it shows about why an independent press still matters. 

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Guests: 

• Zsuzsanna Wirth, Direct36 investigative reporter
• András Pethő, Direct36 editor
• Marius Dragomir, Director of the Media and Journalism Research Center

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