How a Tiny Newsroom Helped Bring Down Hungary’s Authoritarian Leader

June 11, 2026 · 47 min

About this episode

The episode discusses how a small newsroom exposed a plot against Hungary's opposition, leading to the ousting of Viktor Orbán.

Viktor Orbán’s authoritarian grip on Hungary became a model for the American right. He hollowed out the country’s democracy and turned much of the media into a government megaphone. Then a small newsroom called Direkt36 exposed a plot against the opposition party involving a mysterious political operative, a young IT worker, a raid on a boat in the Danube and a whistleblowing police captain . A few weeks later, Orbán was ousted from power in a landslide election.  Sean Cole reports on the investigation, called the Hungarian Watergate, and what it shows about why an independent press still matters.  Question Everything is a production of KCRW and Placement Theory . And don’t forget to sign up for our newsletter . Guests:  Zsuzsanna Wirth , Direct36 investigative reporter András Pethő , Direct36 editor Marius Dragomir , Director of the Center for Media, Data and Society Please support the organizations that support this show: Ground News is a platform that makes it easy to compare news sources, read between the lines of media bias, and break free from algorithms. Go to  GroundNews.com/QUESTION  to get 40% off the…

People in this episode

Host: Brian Reed

Guests: Zsuzsanna Wirth, András Pethő, Marius Dragomir

Topics covered

Hungary politics
authoritarianism
independent press
media investigation
opposition party
democracy

Keywords

Hungary
Viktor Orbán
Direkt36
independent media
authoritarian leader
investigation
election

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Direkt36, KCRW, Placement Theory

Products: ZBiotics probiotics