THE BIRTH OF THE COMMUNICATIONS PROFESSION IN HUNGARY
Sometime in the late 1980s, our office phone rang. The call came from London, from the offices of Edelman Public Relations Worldwide. They explained that the BBC’s correspondent in Hungary had recommended us as the only organization in the country engaged in press relations and event organization. They wanted to arrange an introductory press conference in Budapest for a major client entering the Hungarian market and asked for our assistance. We hung up and looked at each other: “All right, we’ll do it – but what exactly is public relations?”
THE BEGINNINGS – INTERNATIONAL PRESS CENTER
The Office for the Information of Foreign Journalists – the predecessor of today’s Pressinform communications agency – was established in 1981. For a time, it operated under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and later under the Prime Minister’s Office. Contrary to its name, it was not involved in information dissemination: it did not issue government statements or publications and had no influence over what foreign correspondents wrote. In reality, it managed the full spectrum of press activities for major international and diplomatic events held in Hungary. It also provided program organization and technical assistance to accredited foreign journalists based in Hungary or visiting the country.
We learned journalism from individuals who represented the highest professional standards and with whom we often developed close personal relationships. Among them were Ernest Beck of The Times (later with The Wall Street Journal in London), Mike Shields of Reuters, Nick Thorpe, Dinah Lord, and Cathy Jenkins of the BBC, Yves-Michele Riols of Le Monde, Viktor Meier of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, and Adam Lebor of The Independent.
We also knew Nicholas Denton well, then the Budapest correspondent of the Financial Times, who, incidentally, spoke excellent Hungarian. Denton later became the founder of Gawker Media, a major figure in digital media. At a reception following a press conference, despite repeated offers, he refused to accept even a single scone – literally – so that no one could suspect he had been influenced. This gesture reflected an exceptionally high ethical standard, especially by today’s measures.
WHEN PRESIDENT BUSH AND QUEEN ELIZABETH II VISITED HUNGARY
During the years of the political transition, Budapest became one of the most important locations for the international press. We were present where the news was being made.
In 1989, we handled international press operations for the Hungarian visit of U.S. President George H. W. Bush, in cooperation with the Press Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Later, when relations between the president and the government became strained, the Office of the President entrusted us with the full international media management of historic events such as the 1993 state visit of Queen Elizabeth II and the 1995 meeting in Keszthely of eight Central European heads of state, including Václav Havel, Lech Wałęsa, and Árpád Göncz. It was also us who obtained the original audio recording from Reuters correspondent Mike Shields that ultimately cleared President Árpád Göncz in a sensitive domestic political situation caused by an error in reporting by La Stampa following a closed press briefing.
These were far from routine assignments. The press logistics of a major international event – accreditation, press program development, on-site infrastructure, press conferences, interviews, press pools, and interpretation for sometimes hundreds of journalists of different nationalities – required extraordinary organizational skill, especially in an era before the Internet, mobile phones, and emails. With no computers available, all tasks were managed via landline telephones and a single fax machine.
THE FIRST FREE ELECTIONS
As the political transition approached, more than a thousand foreign journalists arrived in Hungary for the elections and struggled to navigate the newly formed political parties and movements. We therefore decided to organize press conferences for all major parties, enabling them to introduce themselves directly to the international press. The series featured leaders of the Hungarian Democratic Forum (MDF), the Hungarian Socialist Party (MSZP), the Alliance of Free Democrats (SZDSZ), Fidesz, the Independent Smallholders’ Party, and the Hungarian Social Democratic Party led by Anna Petrasovits.
At the time, this was far from an obvious decision. We soon received a phone call from a senior official at the Press Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, asking whose idea this had been and who had authorized it. However, such objections – and the promised disciplinary consequences – were quickly swept aside by the course of history.
THE CREATION OF THE HUNGARIAN INTERNATIONAL PRESS ASSOCIATION
In the course of our daily work with resident foreign correspondents in Budapest, we conceived the idea of establishing an organization representing foreign journalists. We observed that correspondents from major international outlets could easily secure interviews with leading Hungarian political figures, while those from smaller publications were at a disadvantage. We suggested to several journalist colleagues that they establish the Hungarian International Press Association (HIPA), which could act as a respected body representing all its members and could not be ignored.
We organized the founding meeting in 1994 in a small basement venue on Semmelweis Street in Budapest. The first official gathering was attended by President Árpád Göncz, who addressed the members at the headquarters of the National Association of Hungarian Journalists (MÚOSZ) on Andrássy Avenue. Virtually all accredited foreign correspondents joined HIPA, which continues to operate to this day.
WHAT IS PUBLIC RELATIONS?
In 1992, state funding for the original Pressinform was terminated, and the office was dissolved without legal successor by the MDF government of the time, despite our submission of letters of support from leading foreign journalists and correspondents. The work, however, did not stop. Retaining the name, we continued as a private enterprise operating under market conditions, carrying forward an activity that was only just emerging in Hungary – public relations.
At that time, an increasing number of multinational companies entered the Hungarian market, seeking to establish a presence. This required organizing press relations, staging presentations, and conveying messages in an unfamiliar environment. Our early clients therefore included companies such as Merloni Elettrodomestici (parent company of the Ariston and Indesit brands), DHL, UPS, Italgas, Humanic, and Gösser. The Yomiuri Shimbun, the world’s highest-circulation daily newspaper, also relied on our support to introduce its Budapest bureau to the Hungarian political community. Soon others followed: Mars, SC Johnson, Beiersdorf, Philips, Dell, Xerox, Danone, Mobil Oil, DuPont, Kotányi – some of whom were clients decades later.
For quite some time, we had no clear idea that what we were doing was called PR – more specifically, marketing PR. That it was a distinct profession with its own methodology, ethics, and literature became apparent only along the way. We soon met other Hungarian communications agencies and professionals, besides multinational clients, there were Aces; Star PR led by Péter Szeles; István Matkó and his colleagues, and later Noguchi founded by Péter Szántó – many of whom, sadly, are no longer with us.
Together with them, we essentially learned to ride a bicycle while already in motion. In retrospect, that may not have been such a bad education.