?A customer picks up a copy of the last issue of main Hungarian newspaper Magyar Nemzet, Hungarian Nation, in Budapest, Hungary on April 11, 2018. Hungary's main newspaper Magyar Nemzet was published here on Wednesday for the last time after 80 years in circulation, owners said in a statement in the print and online versions of the paper. (Xinhua/Attila Volgyi)
BUDAPEST, April 11 (Xinhua) -- Hungary's main newspaper Magyar Nemzet was published here on Wednesday for the last time after 80 years in circulation, owners said in a statement in the print and online versions of the paper.
"Due to financing problems of the journal Magyar Nemzet, following the decision of the owners, the publisher ceases its media service activity, thus eliminating the Magyar Nemzet daily newspaper and its online version, mno.hu, as from April 11, 2018," the statement said.
Owners also ceased operating opposition radio Lanchid radio, and will proceed to make cuts to the news television channel Hir TV, the statement added.
Magyar Nemzet and the other media concerned are owned by business tycoon Lajos Simicska, a former ally and confidant of Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who turned his back on him in 2015.
Since then, the media mogul has been said to support the opposition party Jobbik, which lost the April 8 general elections.
Talks are underway for the shares of the paper. Opposition member Peter Ungar, from the small LMP green-liberal party, is said to have made an offer to buy the paper and continue its operations.
Miklos Hargitai, the head of the Hungarian association of journalists MUOSZ, said on commercial radio klubradio that the closure of the paper had been a political decision rather than a financial one.
