Abstract
The freedom of the press was regarded as an important achievement and valuable heritage of the 1848 revolution in nineteenth-century Hungary. The liberal government after 1867 seldom dreamed of installing censorship; they rather developed more sophisticated, indirect methods to influence the press. However, the government tried to suppress the agrarian movements in early 1898, among other measures, through forbidding the circulation of subversive texts. Most political forces, including the government, emphasized that every kind of censorship was unacceptable, and the freedom of the press continued to be respected. The press, nevertheless, reacted very harshly to the actual restriction. The journalism of Kálmán Mikszáth, who was also a governing party MP but never practiced partisanship in writing, serves as the main example. Although he did not feel much sympathy with the rebelling rural population, he fiercely opposed any restriction on the freedom of the press.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
It is worth mentioning that his defence attorney was Károly Eötvös (1842–1916), a writer and a politician, who was a leading figure in various oppositional parties over the years. He was far from a socialist, but as a fiery liberal spirit he took freedom of expression very seriously. His greatest achievement as a lawyer was the successful defence of the wrongly accused Jews of the Tiszaeszlár blood libel in 1883, on which he wrote a three-volume memoir exposing Hungarian anti-Semitism (Eötvös, 1929).
The disagreement about the policy against socialism was not the only reason.
The association existed from 1896 to 1918. Mikszáth was the first president (1896–1900).
Under the pseudo-name “Kappa.”
The leading article of the same issue conferred the planned restriction of the free press to forced castration of criminals: if a judge has the right to order that punishment, innocent men can feel uncomfortable and threatened too (“Arcanumok,” 1898, p. 1).
Actually, a journalists’ chamber was established in 1938, but that time it was an oppressive branch of the already quite oppressive Horthy-regime.
References
A földmivelési tárcza [The Ministry of Agriculture] (1898). Országos Hirlap, 2(41, February 10), 2–3.
A hivatalos arcanumok [The official magic medicines] (1898). Országos Hirlap, 2(43, February 12), 3–4.
A kultusz-tárcza [The Ministry of Culture] (1898). Országos Hirlap, 2(55, February 24), 2–4.
A legyürt szocziálisták [Socialists defeated] (1898). Országos Hirlap, 2(47, February 16), 9–10.
Arcanumok [Magic medicines] (1898). Országos Hirlap, 2(41, February 10), 1–2.
A mai ülés [Today’s meeting] (1898). Országos Hirlap, 2(44, February 13), 2–4.
A sajtótörvény reformja [The reform of the press law] (1898). Országos Hirlap, 2(63, March 4), 1–2.
A szabadság ünnepe [The celebration of liberty] (1898). Országos Hirlap, 2(73, March 14), 1–3.
A szocziáldemokraták gyülése [The social democrats’ gathering] (1898). Országos Hirlap, 2(73, March 14), 3.
A szocziálisták munkája [The socialists’ work]. (1898). Országos Hirlap 2(45, February 14), 4.
Az agrár-szocziálizmus: A képviselőház ülése [The agrarian socialism: The meeting of the parliament]. (1898). Országos Hirlap, 2(42, February 11), 2–3.
Az igazságügyi tárcza [The Ministry of Justice] (1898). Országos Hirlap, 2(57, February 26), 2–4.
Az újságirók és a sajtószabadság [Journalists and the freedom of the press]. (1898). Országos Hirlap, 2(57, February 26), 4–5.
Bezeczky, G. (2021). Szinnyei József és a hazai hírlapirodalom [József Szinnyei and our domestic newspaper literature]. Magyar Könyvszemle, 21(3), 367–380.
Eötvös, K. (1929). A nagy per, mely ezer éve folyik s még sincs vége [The great trial, which started one thousand years ago and is still going on] (1–3 vol.). Révai.
Hajdu, P. (2014). The memory of national literature in Budapest city centre. Neohelicon, 41(1), 43–50. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11059-013-0219-4.
Hirek [News] (1898a). Országos Hirlap, 2(46, February 15), 7–9.
Hirek [News] (1898b). Országos Hirlap, 2(54, February 23), 5–7.
Hirek [News] (1898c). Országos Hirlap, 2(55, February 24), 6–9.
Kabos, E. [Kappa] (1898). A kisértések kelyhe [The chalice of temptations]. Országos Hirlap, 2(41, February 10), 1–3.
Kényes fegyverek [Delicate weapons] (1898). Országos Hirlap, 2(56, February 25), 1–2.
Kókay, G., Buzinkay, G., & Murányi, G. (2001). A magyar sajtó története [A history of Hungarian press]. Sajtóház.
Lap-statárium [Martial law for the press] (1898). Országos Hirlap, 2(43, February 12), 1–2.
Mikszáth, K. (1898a). Az igazságügyi tárcza [The Ministry of Justice]. Országos Hirlap, 2(57, February 26), 2–3.
Mikszáth, K. (1898b). Április tizenegyedike [April 11]. Országos Hirlap, 2(71, March 12), 2–3.
Mikszáth, K. (1898c). [Beszéde az újságírók lakomáján. His speech at the journalists’ banquet.] Országos. Hirlap, 2(74, March 15), 6.
Mikszáth, K. (1898d). A kemény koponyák [Stubborn people]. Országos Hirlap, 2(271, October 2), 1–4.
Mit kiván a Magyar nemzet [What the Hungarian nation wants.] (1848). Heckenast Gusztáv.
Politikai hirek [Political news] (1898). Országos Hirlap, 2(53, February 22), 2.
Szana, T. (1898). A sajtó felszabadulása [The liberation of the press]. Athenaeum.
Várkonyi István és a Földmivelő [István Várkonyi and the Földmivelő] (1898). Országos Hirlap, 2(46, February 15), 9–10.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Publisher’s Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Hajdu, P. The horror of censorship in fin-de-siècle Hungarian journalism. Neohelicon 50, 603–612 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11059-023-00701-0
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11059-023-00701-0