Népszava

History and profile

Népszava is Hungary's eldest continuous print publication and as of October 2019 the last and only remaining liberal, social democratic political daily in the country.

Népszava was established in 1873 in Budapest by Viktor Külföldi. It was the official newspaper of the Hungarian Social Democratic Party until 1948 when Hungary became a communist state. During this period two of Népszava's editors in chief were murdered: Béla Somogyi (along with reporter Béla Bacsó) in 1920 by right wing officers and Illés Mónus in 1944 by members of the Hungarian Nazi Arrow Cross Party militia.

During the period of the Hungarian People's Republic between 1948 and 1989, it was the official newspaper of Hungarian trade unions. In 1990 it was privatized. Its publisher, the entrepreneur János Fenyő was shot dead in Budapest in 1998. The crime is still partially unsolved. The newspaper is currently owned by the entrepreneur Tamás Leisztinger.

Népszava is published in broadsheet format.

Circulation

The circulation of Népszava was 222,000 copies in January 1989 and 181,000 copies in January 1991. The paper had a circulation of 135,000 copies in July 1992 and 102,000 copies in March 1993. The paper had a circulation of 31,742 copies in 2009, making it the sixth most read daily in the country. The circulation further declined to 10,522 copies by 2016. After closure of Népszabadság, today Népszava is Hungary's market leader among political dailies. Its average circulation is 21 thousand copies/day with the 32-page Saturday edition reaching 24 thousand copies.

Notable staff

; Editors in chief

• Viktor Külföldi (from 1877)
• Ernő Garami (1898–1918)
• Árpád Szakasits (1939–1944, from 1945)
• Anna Kéthly (1957–1964)

;Writers, publicists

• Endre Ady
• György Faludy
• Ferenc Fejtő
• Gyula Illyés
• Sándor Jemnitz, music critic (1924–1950)
• Attila József
• Margit Kaffka
• Gyula Kállai
• Lajos Kassák
• Anna Kéthly
• Dezső Kosztolányi
• Zsigmond Kunfi, deputy chief editor (from 1907)
• Géza Losonczy
• Miklós Radnóti

References

References

1. Péter Bajomi-Lázár. "The Business of Ethics, the Ethics of Business". Centrul pentru Jurnalism Independent.
2. (2000). "Campaign Effects in the 1994 and 1998 Parliamentary Elections in Hungary". ECPR.
3. (1999). "Ownership and control of the Hungarian press". The Public.
4. (December 2010). "Communicating Europe: Hungary Manual". European Stability Initiative.
5. Sarolta, Székely. (September 12, 2016). "Újabb 2000 vásárlót veszített Simicska lapja".