A sajtószabadság ügye a kiegyezés utáni évek Magyarországán
The freedom of the press in Hungary after the compromise of 1867

Summary/Abstract: March of 1848 brought the freedom of the press to Hungary. In Pest, with the help of the citizens, the ‘youth of March’ broke with the centuries-old tradition of censorship, and in Pozsony (the later Bratislava), the liberal nobles of the last Diet of Hungary passed a law, stating that „Everyone may freely publish and disseminate their thoughts through the press.” With the defeat of the War of Independence of 1848, freedom of opinion was out of reach of the nation’s best for a decade and a half. The reconciliation of Vienna and Pest, as well as of the Habsburg dynasty with the re-establishment of constitutionalism in 1867 meant the re-liberation of the press. In 1867, the law framed by Bertalan Szemere was re-enacted which also carried a symbolic message: the nation’s adherence to the ideas of Kossuth, Széchenyi, Deák and others. By liberating the press and, two years later, by reducing the financial burden on newspapers, Gyula Andrássy and his government demonstrated to the nation and the world their commitment to liberal ideas and institutions.

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