One of aims “to mitigate left-wing bias in journalism”
An investigation by Portuguese newspaper Expresso, Hungarian media outlet Direkt36 and world-renowned French daily “Le Monde” has discovered that Hungary was indeed behind the takeover by a Portuguese Venture Capital company of struggling media outlet Euronews.
The rumours started in December 2021, but have always been denied. They concerned Mário David, a former PSD Euro MP turned media advisor of Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán, and his son, Pedro Vargas David – the owner of Alpac Capital, a Lisbon-based venture capital company that ultimately led the acquisition of Euronews, described as “the seventh most influential brand on EU politics”.
Now it transpires the denials were expedient. Not only did Hungary (in the form of a State owned fund, liked to Orbán’s Fidesz party) invest €45 million in the EFMI investment fund that purchased Euronews (in July 2022), but another €12.5 million came from the company of Orbán’s “main propaganda producer”. In other words, the financing from Hungarian sources amounted to €57.5 million.
“Pedro Vargas David raised €170 million euros in 2022 for EFMI – €85 million from equity, the other half from bank loans. Of this, €150 million was used to acquire ‘Euronews’ and €20 million for its restructuring”, explain reports picking up on the exposé.
“This acquisition also coincided with the purchase in Portugal of the weekly ‘Nascer do Sol’ and ‘i’: both newspapers controlled by the same company that owns ‘Euronews’, an Alpac Capital holding company in Dubai.
“Guillaume Dubois, CEO of Euronews appointed by Pedro Vargas David, emphasised in an interview with Le Monde that he was unaware of the Hungarian State’s involvement. “The diversity of the fund’s investors is something that doesn’t interest me,” he pointed out, guaranteeing that the deal complied with the law.
“Euronews SA, of which I am the managing director, has a board of directors and a chain of control. The majority shareholder is Pedro Vargas David, the rest is none of my business.”
But it does seem to be the business of investigative journalists, particularly those based in Hungary who have found independent journalism “curtailed” under Orbán, whose administration in the meantime has been seen to have been constructing “a huge propaganda machine”, explain investigative journalists Micael Pereira (Expresso) and Brice Laemie (Le Monde).
And the fact that the investors in this deal were kept secret – even denied – makes the whole deal that much more apparently sinister.
“Although sources familiar with the inner workings of Euronews say there is no indication that the new owners are interfering in editorial decisions, leaked documents suggest that the acquisition of the channel was also motivated by political goals. For example, one of the preparatory documents prepared by SZTA staff (SZTA being a Hungarian company created by the Hungarian government to take care of sovereign funds) stated that the objectives of the acquisition included “mitigating left-wing ideology and bias/ one-sidedness” in cooperation with universities”, say journalists.
Expresso’s report today adds that while there are no signs of censure over news relating to Hungary or Viktor Orbán, some journalists have complaints about Qatar, Morocco, Saudi Arabia and Azerbaijan – other countries that contributed to the financing of Euronews.
An internal document produced by members of the reporting team last year stated that “either we are stopped from covering (certain) subjects, or we are obliged to cover them with very precise instructions not to offend clients, or (even) to praise a client in the news…”
Euronews CEO has admitted to “partnership contracts” with the countries in question, but “guaranteed that he has never asked anyone to praise a client”, concludes the paper.
Bizarrely, until very recently, Portugal’s new prime minister Luís Montenegro was a media consultant for Alpac at Euronews”, says a side story in Expresso, quoting from Mr Montenegro’s own PSD biography. The biography today does not appear to include this detail.
