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in an interview segment of its morning news and public affairs programme. Orbán also
appeared in major interview series on state radio and television.

Another important characteristic of this period was the personalisation of the political
power of government (Stumpf, 2002). The prime minister embodied the government
and its diverse activities. The government’s programme was thus represented by a
sympathetic, strong-minded but smiling young man with a good sense of humour who
spoke eloquently but in a simple, uncomplicated manner. He was tough with the
enemies of the government, because the government represented the Hungarian
citizens. According to the portrait that projected his personality, he was a church-going
Christian,a family man with an attractive wife and four children. 7

WHAT THE SOCIALISTS HAVE AND HAVE NOT LEARNED
There had long been a belief in Hungary that the Socialists and their governments
perform well but are unable to communicate their successes (Ágh 1999). During their
campaign and following their victory in 2002, the Socialist party and the government
wanted to resolve the problem by employing foreign consultants – both the party and
its government employed consultants, but two different ones: the party used Ron
Weber, and the prime minister, Medgyessy a US consultant, Stanley Greenberg, one of
the leaders of the Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research Inc. It was hoped that the
employment of foreign communication advisors would bring about direct and
immediate results in improving their political communication, and to accelerate the
process of adaptation to the new requirements. Ron Weber, the Israeli advisor, led the
Socialist party to victory in 2002 and directed the Socialists’ EU parliamentary election
campaign. This later resulted in an unfavourable outcome for the party. His negative
campaign style was attacked by journalists and the opposition.
The Professionalisation of Political Communication
Medgyessy, the prime minister, who had performed well during the campaign, and had
a good reputation among economic and financial experts, however proved weak in
public communication and in the media when in government. He made strong and
visible efforts to respond to this challenge,but without much success

In 2002, the new Socialist government had inherited the Young Democrats’
governmental system and political communication machinery. As a first reaction, they
changed everything and dismissed those at high level appointed by the previous
government. Given the fact that the state and party politics and communications in
principle and practice were intertwined, the organisational and personnel changes
were considerable. The new Socialist prime minister, Medgyessy, quickly discovered,
however, the advantages of the organisational forms of governmental communication
introduced by his predecessor and he developed it further. But this meant more a
quantitative development rather than a qualitative one. The main criterion for the
selection of the staff was their confidence and not their professionalism.

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