According to the Reuters Institute's annual survey, trust in the Hungarian news media has steeply declined: while individual outlets such as HVG and RTL regularly rank high among the most trusted sources, only 22 percent of respondents last year said they generally find the domestic press reliable. That figure places Hungary among the lowest of roughly sixty countries examined, tied with Greece.
An illustrative incident occurred at an international conference on democracy, journalism and artificial intelligence organized by the Korea Journalists Association in Seoul at the end of March. A German delegate described low media trust in Germany; the Reuters Institute data showed Germany's trust index at 45 points and rising, which he considered worrying. When compared with Hungary, however, it became clear that the Hungarian figure is less than half of Germany's and is trending downward.
This environment alarms responsible journalists. In the public eye, outlets that adhere to professional standards are often lumped together with those where editorial direction or external pressure shapes the "narrative." The latter category increasingly produces AI‑generated content, further eroding audience trust and creating friction between traditional journalism and automated production.
At the conference Daniel Bastard, head of Asia coverage at the Paris‑based weekly Courrier International, observed that "a profession fighting a global erosion of press freedom has far bigger problems than worrying about how creative a machine writes." Bastard argued that journalists must confront responsible AI use even as they remain burdened by declining press freedom and credibility — a reality reflected in trust indexes.
Participants at the Seoul event largely agreed that newsrooms should disclose when they use AI in producing a piece. Among the roughly forty countries represented by journalists invited by the Korea Journalists Association, opinions diverged on whether transparency should be mandated by law or managed through self‑regulation. No participant reported that their country currently had a significant governmental push or active public debate aimed at increasing such transparency.
Delegates also pointed to a political paradox: governments seeking cheap and fast propaganda tools may have little incentive to require AI labeling. Many newsrooms themselves are reluctant to adopt full transparency for fear that admitting AI participation in content creation could reduce a story's perceived credibility.
Overall, speakers emphasized that while AI introduces new ethical and editorial challenges, the more immediate threat to democracies comes from weakening press freedom and falling public trust. Transparency about AI use may be a necessary step, but its implementation and effects will vary significantly between countries.
Key points
- Reuters Institute data: general trust in the Hungarian press stands at 22 percent, one of the lowest among the countries studied.
- The conference was held at the end of March in Seoul, organized by the Korea Journalists Association.
- There was broad agreement on disclosing newsroom AI use, but debate over legal mandates versus self‑regulation.
- Eroding press freedom and increasing government pressure complicate efforts to institute responsible AI practices in journalism.
(The tags Ai7, journalism, democracy, artificial intelligence reflect the conference themes.)
