{"id":35217,"date":"2020-02-28T15:59:28","date_gmt":"2020-02-28T13:59:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ostro.si\/?p=35217"},"modified":"2026-06-09T11:57:27","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T09:57:27","slug":"oiling-orbans-propaganda-machine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ostro.si\/en\/stories\/oiling-orbans-propaganda-machine\/","title":{"rendered":"Oiling Orb\u00e1n\u2019s Propaganda Machine"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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The money was transferred to two North Macedonian media companies belonging to Peter Schatz, a Hungarian media executive, from another company he owns in Slovenia. The television and web ads bought through these payments were aired on behalf of two small Hungarian companies, one of which sells olive oil and the other small trinkets such as refrigerator magnets. Neither company appears to have imported anything into North Macedonia, calling into question the stated purpose of the transactions. <\/p>\n

The North Macedonian financial police are looking into the matter, according to a report obtained by OCCRP’s local member center and interviews with officials. Investigators suspect that the ad purchases represent “laundering” of Hungarian state money. <\/p>\n

The ads are still appearing on Schatz\u2019s TV channel, Alfa TV, where he is a majority shareholder, and his news website, ripostmk.com. Both outlets were part of what appeared to be a Hungarian push in 2017<\/a> to back media supporting Orb\u00e1n\u2019s beleaguered ally in North Macedonia, former Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski. <\/p>\n

Schatz had risen to prominence two years earlier when he co-founded the original Ripost, a pro-government tabloid, in Hungary. He then became a key player in the foreign expansion of Hungary\u2019s pro-government media, setting up branches of the outlet in Slovenia and North Macedonia. <\/p>\n

Another network of pro-Orb\u00e1n websites in North Macedonia, also owned by a Hungarian media player, has published the same questionable ads, though it is not clear whether this was part of the same scheme.<\/p>\n

The outlets that received the cash influx have been frequently criticized for peddling propaganda for Gruevski and Orb\u00e1n and publishing distorted news on NATO, Russia, immigration, and George Soros.<\/p>\n

While the trinket and olive oil ads, which run incessantly on Alfa TV, have already raised eyebrows in Hungarian media<\/a>, documents obtained by OCCRP and its local member centers \u2014 Investigative Reporting Lab Macedonia, Direkt36 in Hungary, and O\u0161tro in Slovenia \u2014 show for the first time how large amounts of money were funneled into the country\u2019s pro-Orb\u00e1n press.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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<\/span>Investigators suspect that the ad purchases represent \u201claundering\u201d of Hungarian state money.\u201d<\/span><\/p>

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Advertising experts who reviewed contracts and invoices related to the transactions said the deals made no commercial sense.<\/p>\n

A North Macedonian financial police report summarizing the agency\u2019s findings describes Schatz\u2019s transactions as having been based on \u201csuspicious invoices\u201d that represent advertisements for products that \u201cdo not exist on the [North Macedonian] market.\u201d<\/p>\n

The document also asserts that the funds could be the proceeds of criminal acts, and that they had been \u201clegalized\u201d through companies in North Macedonia. This represents evidence of \u201cthe criminal act of money laundering,\u201d the financial police concluded. It is not clear what criminal acts the police refer to in the report, or whether it is related to suspicions of Hungarian state involvement. <\/p>\n

Arafat Muaremi, the director of the Finance Ministry\u2019s financial police, is overseeing the investigation.<\/p>\n

Muaremi said in an interview that he suspected the funds originated with the Hungarian state and were part of a propaganda operation intended to fund political activities, though he offered no evidence.<\/p>\n

North Macedonia\u2019s Prosecutor\u2019s Office was informed about the findings of the financial police investigation in August 2019, but the office has not yet opened an investigation, according to Muaremi. Prosecutors confirmed they were aware of the case, but declined to comment further. <\/p>\n

The influx of funds into North Macedonia comes as the country prepares for new elections in April in which the Orb\u00e1n-friendly VMRO party is seeking to regain power.<\/p>\n

It is illegal in both North Macedonia and Slovenia for foreign entities to fund political parties, but there is no ban on channelling money to media outlets.<\/p>\n

Olive Oil and Crystal-Encrusted Mugs<\/h3>\n

Outlets that uncritically convey Viktor Orb\u00e1n\u2019s messages, supported by advertising purchases by the state, have long dominated Hungary\u2019s media environment. Years of small steps toward building a centralized propaganda machine culminated in the creation in 2018 of the Central European Press and Media Foundation, which now controls over 100 pro-government media outlets, according to a report<\/a> by a group of press freedom organizations. <\/p>\n

Meanwhile, pro-Orb\u00e1n media tycoons were looking beyond their own borders into the former Yugoslavia and the wider Balkan region.<\/p>\n

In the spring of 2017, people close to the Hungarian government, including Schatz, moved on Slovenia and North Macedonia.<\/p>\n

In both countries, he purchased and established newspapers<\/a>, websites, and television stations that supported former prime ministers \u2014 Nikola Gruevski in North Macedonia and Janez Jan\u0161a in Slovenia \u2014 who are considered friendly to Orb\u00e1n. Both men share a range of populist, right-wing political tactics with the Hungarian leader, emphasizing the supposed threat posed by immigration and decrying the influence of Hungarian-born American philanthropist George Soros. <\/p>\n

The Hungarians arrived in North Macedonia at a desperate time for Gruevski and his party \u2014 as well as VMRO-friendly media outlets. Anti-corruption protests had recently swept the country, while government-backed advertising dried up after Gruevski stepped down as prime minister in 2016. <\/p>\n

As prosecutors closed in on him in a kickbacks scandal that would see him sentenced to two years in prison, he fled to Hungary, where Orb\u00e1n welcomed him with open arms and eventually granted him asylum, despite Macedonian authorities\u2019 attempts to extradite him. He is reportedly still living there today. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n