Viktor Orban's proposal is to ban TV, radio and poster advertisements from political campaigning, since, "advertising is not a way of informing, but a means of manipulation." But this only means something if every party (including Fidesz, of course) uses the media to drag voters along by the nose. If this disinformation, which Orban says must be banned, is intrinsic to politics, then the proposal is incomplete.

If campaign posters inflict lies on defenceless citizens, then why should leaflets, posters plastered on walls, telephone direct marketing or printed or online advertising be truthful? Furthermore, if I ban lies from one media surface, then they'll just move to another. You can't fight sin selectively. Giant posters and radio and TV adverts are not in themselves manipulative - they are just the medium. It's rather like making murder with a gun a criminal offence while permitting snuffing out someone's life with a knife. Law never punishes the means, it punishes the act, as the legally trained Fidesz leader must surely know very well.

Orban hasn't gone mad, accusing his own party of manipulative trickery. Clearly, his own party is telling the truth - this, at least, he must believe. But if it's only the government parties that lie, manipulate and twist the facts, then what's the point in this proposal? It would not only suppress government party lies but also the opposition's truths. So we'd be in the same position. One thing would change. Orban, faithful to his own stated belief ("politics costs too much, many see it as a waste of money"), wants to save money on campaign spending. But there wouldn't be much point if the vast sums currently spent on giant posters and TV adverts were simply spent on direct marketing instead.

But Orban's aim is probably shorter-term. He's trying to persuade the masses that the parties get too much money, so they could do with a bit of slimming down. Later, he can point to "taxpayers' money" being spent on advertising on screens, radio waves and tube stations, as the government parties "wreck" his "plan." If it works, the consequences won't be pretty. The political elite (including Orban) knows very well that the party system is under-financed. Candidates spend several times the officially permitted sum on campaigning. The budget shouldn't be cut; it needs increasing. But who's going to call for that? Fidesz clearly isn't going to. Nor with the coalition, which has enough unpopular battles to fight. Orban's impossible plan would just increase the parties' dependency, forcing them to rely on generous big-spenders to meet their advertising needs - and these people are not acting selflessly. He would just exacerbate what he claims to be against: the manipulation of voters.

László Tamás Papp