🎬 80 rozlícených novinářů (2026)

The film is an inside account shot from the newsroom of the struggle over one of the first and simultaneously most-read and most-influential Hungarian online newspapers Index.hu in the phase of its escalation. When Viktor Orbán's party began to govern with a constitutional majority, control of the media became a long-term priority. Through a key ally, the magnate Lajos Simicska, key traditional media were thus gradually integrated into its sphere of influence and critical voices in the public space weakened. One of the most significant online newspapers Index.hu, however, remained independent. In 2014, information leaked to the public that Simicska had acquired a significant stake in its shares, which provoked public demonstrations and Simicska subsequently denied it. This was confirmed only three years later when he attempted to activate the option. This again provoked enormous resistance from the public and the newsroom, so the transaction was never completed. In the meantime, Simicska fell out of favor with Orbán and after several years of struggle lost almost everything and withdrew from the spotlight. The ownership of Index was transferred to a newly established foundation, whose chairman became the newspaper's long-time lawyer László Bodolai ("Bodi," as his colleagues called him), who is also one of the protagonists of the film. Representatives of the foundation presented this outwardly as a step toward even greater independence. However, doubts within the newsroom led to the creation of a so-called independence barometer – an indicator in the corner of the newspaper's front page with the possibility to indicate three positions of the newspaper: "independent," "in danger," and "end of independence." Despite growing tension between the newsroom and the owner, the barometer's needle remained in the "independent" position – until one day in 2019. Shortly before, the foundation's leadership announced a plan for structural changes in the internal functioning of Index's newsroom, with many of the changes perceived by journalists as unjustified and unacceptable interference in the management and potentially the content of the newspaper. After weeks of mounting tension, respected editor-in-chief Szabolcs Dull moved the barometer needle to the level "In danger." Millions of readers suddenly saw that something serious was happening – and it became a topic of world media as well. The crisis between the newspaper's ownership structure and the newsroom entered an open phase. At this moment, András Földes, a long-time newsroom member and renowned war correspondent, picked up a camera and this film began to take shape. The escalation ended with the departure of the entire newsroom consisting of more than eighty, often elite journalists. A moral gesture and practical step that threw everyone into uncertainty and new opportunities. The film opens questions about journalistic freedom and its institutional and community anchoring, for which authoritarian rule is a stress test on the front line, and the whole of society is next in line...