Who does not remember the defeatist sentence of the mayor, which left his mouth back in May, when announcing his candidacy for prime minister: "I want to live in a country where people are allowed to work. Where the teacher can teach, the journalist can ask…” he said then, and how well it sounded! It's a shame that not a single crumb of thought was true.
Of course, this is not the only area where Karácsony's words and actions were discrepant, but it is undoubtedly one of the most spectacular. If we recall, three days after his above statement, he covered the journalist who asked about his doctorate at a press conference in Dunaújváros in this way:
“I want to tell you, shame on you! We are here for a very important matter... Shame on you, that's what I want to say.”
And it didn't help much with the answer that Gyurcsány signaled with a delicate croak in the background: that's enough now.
And the situation has only gotten worse since then. On October 8, András Kósa, who can hardly be accused of leaning towards the government party, disparaged in an article published in Népszav that he was only invited as a bio set to the performance mocked as a press conference, where Karácsony handed the baton to Márki-Zay.
"If we are invited to a so-called press event, we do not go as a backstage to politician X's Big Announcement, but to ask him questions. What we want, according to our own points of view... A "press statement", where the journalist's job is only to listen politely, is not exactly a democratic genre. If a politician just wants to make an announcement, do it on his social media page - it's not exactly ideal, but at least he doesn't look down on journalists. A press department should preferably answer questions even if they touch on a sensitive topic - I can't say an opposition party, where this has unfortunately not been fully fulfilled lately. And we would also like the Budapest information."
In recent days, we have reached another cornerstone, the case of Városháza-gate, which unfolds slowly, step by step, the circumstances of the planned sale, putting the main actors in the spotlight. Around Christmas, the air dries up, and it seems that even within his own camp, those in whose shoes Gergely's personality has degraded to a tiny, prickly little pebble have now become the majority. It will soon become clear whether the ink has really dried on the launch permit, and the details of the case can be read on numerous portals , but until then let's not ignore the performance of the city administration on Tuesday, which was once again mocked as a press conference.
I don't even want to talk about the content - that can be summed up in two words: complete denial - but about the form, but even more about the mentality, which in the case of Karácsony and the Squirrel guard lined up behind him, did not even meet the basic criteria of democratic press conferences.
First of all, hysteria is not likable in the case of a child either, but in an adult, if it is a man, and even a politician, it is quite distasteful. Then, regarding the threat to the press and the open humiliation and discrediting of pro-government journalists: today there are two types of journalists in Hungary, pro-government and opposition. None of them are independent. You can like one and not the other, but an elected politician must rise above his personal sympathy and answer even the questions that are uncomfortable for him. Especially in light of what you talked about: "I want to live in a country where... the journalist can ask questions". And this is not just for the friendly press. Or yes? Maybe not always for them?
It would be worthwhile for the mayor to look at any government information - if he has already canceled the Budapest information for the greater glory of democracy - how the information is carried out there. On a weekly basis, the government is available to the press for a period of two, two and a half hours - not twenty minutes - and it often happens that an opposition journalist does a mini-interview, sometimes in a sneering style, whistling at his own colleagues as well. Despite this, miraculously, we have never heard Gergely Gulyás get hysterical or threaten about all of this, even though he also receives unpleasant and even sometimes snarky questions.
Summa summarum, the press conference is also a genre, you can do it well, you can do it badly, or you can mime it - what Karácsony performed on Tuesday belongs to the last category. The point of a press conference is to be informative, and this was everything but that.
And for God's sake: either wear the mask or not, but to pull it off their face at every question, as if it was soundproof, is not only pointless, but also laughable.
Featured image: Facebook video
