‘If Someone Lit Up a Match, the Place Would Explode’

Viktor Orbán’s regime is increasingly targeting journalists. But even if he loses the election coming up this weekend, Hungary won’t become a press haven overnight.

Noémi Martini and I used to sit across from each other at HVG, one of the few independent newspapers left in Hungary under Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s autocratic reign. In the few years since, she has become one of the most recognizable young journalists in the country, covering protests and chasing down politicians with a microphone.

Now that I live in New York, I’ve been watching her videos to keep a finger on Hungary’s pulse. In the run-up to the general election, this Sunday, it is racing. Orbán, who has run the country for the past sixteen years, trails his opponent, a political newcomer named Péter Magyar, by twenty points. The vote could change the country’s trajectory.