azonnali.hu

Azonnali.hu was a Hungarian left-wing news portal focused on public affairs, Hungarian politics, and the Central European region. It operated from June 2017 until August 2022, when it ceased due to financial difficulties. The site was founded by Gábor Gerényi, a former executive of the news portal Mandiner, together with journalists Bea Bakó and Martin Bukovics. In May 2018, Péter Ungár, an LGBT activist, billionaire, and then member of parliament for the green party LMP, acquired an ownership stake through a capital increase in the publisher Azonnali Média Kft., based in Eger. Ungár held the majority share but stated he acted only as an investor. The portal gained a reputation for its critical, left-leaning journalism and attracted a readership interested in independent political analysis. In September 2021, founding co-editor-in-chief Martin Bukovics was dismissed by Azonnali Média Kft., leading to the departure of several journalists and a labor lawsuit. Bukovics lost the first-instance court ruling. After the portal shut down in August 2022, both owners promised to keep the article archive accessible, but the publisher stopped paying German company Hetzner for server and storage rental. Due to the long-standing debt, Hetzner deleted the entire content of Azonnali.hu, including all backups, in early 2023. Hungarian media extensively covered the incident, which was described by parts of the journalistic community as a cultural and political loss, as thousands of texts, interviews, and analyses from 2017 to 2022 disappeared. Co-owner Gábor Gerényi attempted to salvage the situation; the editorial team found older internal backups from other sources and moved the site to a new provider in March 2023. Much of the archive was restored, but some texts and multimedia data—especially newer articles from just before the closure—were irretrievably lost.

Azonnali.hu was founded by Gábor Gerényi, former executive of the news portal Mandiner, along with journalists Bea Bakó and Martin Bukovics. The portal launched in June 2017 as a left-wing news site focusing on Hungarian politics and Central Europe. In May 2018, Péter Ungár, an LGBT activist, billionaire, and then MP for the green party LMP, acquired an ownership stake through a capital increase in the publisher Azonnali Média Kft., based in Eger. Ungár became the majority owner but stated he acted only as an investor. In September 2021, founding co-editor-in-chief Martin Bukovics was dismissed by Azonnali Média Kft. The dismissal was reported by co-editor-in-chief Bea Bakó, who was on maternity leave. Minority owner Gerényi and the publisher's executive informed the editorial team that "conflicts had increased." According to the executive's statement, Bukovics was fired due to "repeated communication problems with management and exceeding his authority." Gerényi said the working atmosphere created by the founding co-editors was unbearable for several colleagues and their style and tone were unacceptable. Bukovics called the justification "false" and considered his dismissal illegal. Journalists interviewed by Mérce also disagreed with the publisher's reasoning. Journalist Bence Pintér, who was appointed to lead the editorial team instead of Bukovics, wrote that he saw some truth on both sides. After Bukovics's dismissal, several journalists left the editorial team, some writing about their reasons directly on Azonnali.hu. Journalist Bence Varsányi wrote that he "refuses to generate even minimal traffic for a portal whose owners fire the editor-in-chief under a fabricated pretext." Journalist Rafael Petróczi stated he no longer trusted the leadership of Azonnali.hu. Bukovics initiated a labor lawsuit. The first-instance court ruled in favor of the publishing company, stating that the former co-editor-in-chief spoke inappropriately to some team members, contributing to the journalists' departures. Bukovics's position was first taken over by Bence Pintér as acting editor-in-chief, and after this transitional period, András Kósa, former journalist of Népszava, was appointed editor-in-chief. The departing co-editor-in-chief founded a new media project called Gemišt. In early August 2022, it became known that the portal would likely cease operations. This was confirmed by co-owner Gábor Gerényi, and shortly after, the news site ended its activities. After the portal ceased operations in August 2022, both owners, businessman Gábor Gerényi and politician and MP Péter Ungár, promised that the article archive would remain accessible to the public. However, the publishing company Azonnali Média Kft. stopped paying the German company Hetzner for server and storage rental. Due to the long-standing debt and ignored payment requests, the German company completely deleted all content of the Azonnali.hu portal, including all backups, in early 2023. Hungarian media described the incident in detail, leading to the temporary (and partially permanent) deletion of the entire article archive. According to the Hungarian investigative portal Media1, Hetzner confirmed that it acted strictly according to its contractual terms. When a client does not pay for a long time and does not respond, the servers are deleted. The German side clearly blamed the portal's owners. Part of the Hungarian journalistic community described this as a cultural and political loss, as thousands of texts, interviews, and analyses from 2017 to 2022 disappeared. Co-owner Gábor Gerényi subsequently tried to salvage the situation. The editorial team managed to find older internal backups from other sources and moved the site to a new provider during March 2023. They succeeded in restoring a large part of the archive, but some texts and multimedia data—especially newer articles from just before the closure—were irretrievably lost.

• Azonnali.hu launched as a left-wing news portal.

• Péter Ungár acquired a majority ownership stake in Azonnali Média Kft.

• Founding co-editor-in-chief Martin Bukovics was dismissed.

• Azonnali.hu ceased operations due to financial problems.

• Hetzner deleted the entire Azonnali.hu archive due to unpaid bills.

• The archive was partially restored and the site moved to a new provider.

Left-wing, independent news portal focusing on Hungarian politics and Central Europe.

• News articles

  Daily news coverage on Hungarian politics and Central Europe.

• Interviews

  In-depth interviews with political and cultural figures.

• Analyses

  Analytical pieces on public affairs.

• Opinion pieces

  Columns and opinion articles from various contributors.

• Dismissal of founding co-editor-in-chief Martin Bukovics

• Deletion of the entire Azonnali.hu archive by Hetzner

Read more

1. 1Azonnali.hu - Wikidatawikidata.org
2. 2Azonnali.hu - Czech Wikipediacs.wikipedia.org