Index.hu editor-in-chief fired

Editor-in-chief fired, new CEO appointed

Bodolai has also announced that he had invited Pál Szombathy, a member of the Board of Directors, to be the CEO of Index, who has accepted the role. András Sztankóczy has been added to the BoD as new member.

"It was not without reason that Index's staff felt in danger, and it was not without reason that I decided to move our independence barometer. All this time I had the values that Index's staff holds before my eyes, as was my duty as editor-in-chief," Szabolcs Dull wrote in his statement to the staff.

It has been a couple of turbulent weeks for Index. First, its editor-in-chief Szabolcs Dull war removed from the management board for publicly warning on 21 June of a planned overhaul that would put in jeopardy the freedom of Index journalists to publish stories critical of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s government.

Two days later, CEO András Pusztay resigned, saying the Board of Directors had taken a decision at a staff meeting that he could not have seen through with a good conscience. His replacement, Zsolt Ződi, stepped down a week later, saying that “carrying out the necessary changes in such a large organisation is a task way beyond me.”

Economic pressure should not turn into political pressure

, stated Věra Jourová, Vice President of the European Commission for Values and Transparency, in a statement sent to Index, in which she expressed solidarity with the media outlet.  

Dull added in his statement:

What transpired in the past few weeks had convinced me even more that Hungary needs a news site where the content and who is on staff are not determined by stealthy external powers, a news source where the only goal is to inform readers, where there is no unknowable higher political or economical intent in the background. Where our work is free and independent.

Index staff stand by Dull

"For years, we've been saying that there are two conditions for the independent operation of Index: that there be no external influence on the content we publish or the structure and composition of our staff. Firing Szabolcs Dull violates our second condition," Index's staff wrote in a statement.

Bodolai claims that the editor-in-chief had leaked a preparatory document and that "in the past couple of days," he was no longer able to control or stop internal processes. 

What Bodolai is talking about is the leakage of the concept preparing the complete overhaul of Index, which subsequently led to Index setting its independence barometer to amber alert — and that happened a month ago, staff members wrote. They reminded that they have consistently stood by the editor-in-chief since then.

"The only thing Szabolcs Dull could not control was how László Bodolai tried to force us to move the barometer back into the green zone by blackmailing us with austerity measures."

"In fact, the reason for Dull's dismissal was that he made it clear that he will not yield to blackmail."

His dismissal is an undisputable intervention in the composition of our staff, and we cannot regard it any other way but as an overt attempt to apply pressure on Index.hu that will result in the decline of independent reporting.

Dozens of Index staff members have signed the statement already:

Cover photo: Getty Images