Journalism strategies and media discourses confronting nativist populism and anti-migrant hysteria: Resistance to regime propaganda in Hungary

Since 2010, Hungary has become the first competitive authoritarian hybrid regime within the European Union. A nativist-populist regime ideology, focusing on anti-migrant propaganda in the government-controlled media sector, has become a cornerstone of Viktor Orban’s non-democratic system. This paper explores journalism strategies that provide alternatives to the official, hegemonic anti-migrant hysteria in Hungary. After a brief introduction into the Hungarian media system, the paper provides qualitative analyses of six strategies:

1. factual news reporting on migration-related events and trends in Hungary, Europe, and the world;

2. journalism that presents migrants as sources;

3. positive framing of contributions of immigrants to Hungary and other EU member states;

4. humor – funny commentary as well as stand-up comedy and its media coverage;

5. explicit criticism of the government’s anti-migrant propaganda, based on principles of journalistic professionalism;

6. the coverage of opposition parties' discourses regarding migrants, including political criticism of the government's nativist-populist discourses.