In some cases they win with the help of successful or popular policies. In Hungary, for example – despite in April 2022’s election – to a considerable extent victory can be attributed to voter support for his government’s popular economic and social programme.
Yet right-wing populist authoritarians also win elections even if their record in power is less positive. In Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdo臒an has presided over of more than 50% and a youth unemployment rate of and yet he won 52% of the votes in the election of May 2023.
It’s similar in many countries presided over by authoritarian populists. And a key reason they can cling on to power is often their careful influence over the news media, which allows them to shape political debate while maintaining the image of a free and democratic press.
Why media ownership matters
On paper, a look at news media ownership changes over the past two decades in populist-controlled countries such as Hungary and Turkey suggests a reassuring picture in which some opposition outlets may have disappeared, but others continue to publish in competition with government-affiliated outlets.
Yet a closer look reveals an interesting structural feature of media ownership networks in authoritarian populist countries. Our in Austria, Hungary, Turkey and Slovenia – all of which have had governments with authoritarian populist tendencies at some point over the past two decades – shows that the structure of media ownership networks is enabling government-affiliated news outlets to dominate the public news discourse.
For instance, in Hungary, the Central European Press and Media Foundation () is a huge right-wing media conglomerate that controls more than 500 national and local media outlets. Kesma was established in 2018, when most pro-government private media owners transferred their ownership rights to the foundation, which is headed by a board of trustees full of Orbán loyalists closely associated to the ruling party.
There are still opposition media voices in Hungary – especially in the online space. But in reality, public funding and the bulk of advertising . This puts independent media in a precarious position financially. State broadcasters and Hungary’s main press agency are also heavily controlled and focus squarely on a pro-government agenda.
Indeed, a to Hungary in December 2019 by several journalism organisations found that Kesma has become a for the government’s “content coordination throughout the pro-government media empire”.
Similarly, in Turkey, the Dogan Media group – owner of some of Turkey’s largest news outlets including the widely read newspapers Hürriyet and Milliyet and the largest tabloid Posta as well as the TV channel CNN Turk – was piece by piece . The Demirören family are .
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