The Power of Small: How media capture helped catalyze local innovation in Hungary

The Orbán-government, not known for its unrelenting enthusiasm for independent journalism, may have inadvertently fostered an environment where small, agile media outlets could carve out a niche.

Last week, I was invited to Pécs, a city of ~140,000 in southern Hungary, to celebrate the 3rd anniversary of Mecseki Müzli, an excellent hyperlocal outlet. There was a roundtable on the prospects of local media in Hungary, and a dinner with plenty of ćevapčići and kajmak so really, my kind of an evening.

Contrary to what one might expect from a panel on independent, local journalism in Hungary, the mood was far from pessimistic. In fact, many of the discussions—both on and off the stage—focused on the opportunities provided by technology, the importance of direct relationships with audiences, and the modest growth and cautious experiments made possible through grant funding. (You can watch our discussion in Hungarian here.)

Mecseki Müzli began as a newsletter on Ghost, a rapidly growing open-source publishing platform that allows creators/newsrooms to monetize their content, much like Substack or Beehiiv.  During the panel, founding editor Ervin Gűth emphasized that without access to …