Julia Sonnevend Talks About Her Life and Work on Popular Hungarian Podcast

CMDS Fellow Júlia Sonnevend was the guest of the week on Friderikusz Podcast, a highly popular Hungarian video podcast.

The wide-ranging interview covers her background, education, family life as well as her research. Among other things, she talks about why fact-checking is often ineffective, the differences between the Hungarian and US media, and why the illiberal leaders in the world appear similar in spite of the fundamental differences in their background and environment.

Discussing her forthcoming book, she talks at length about Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán’s charm. She argues that in the 20th century, politicians’ charm was based on distance, while today, politicians are trying to construct an image of being “one of us.” She further says that politicians, whether populist or not, are increasingly using similar tools; political communication is becoming similar globally. She argues that the importance of personality often exceeds that of policies and institutions.

Talking about Orbán’s Facebook page, she says he communicates that he represents the nation. He does not post about policies but about “Hungarian things” such as going to a pig-killing or eating traditional Hungarian food. Through his messages, he subtly communicates who belongs to the nation. She claims that Orbán’s messages are based on very thorough polling, which measures not only voters’ political preferences but also fears, attitudes and even preferred terms and phrases, with "war inflation" being the latest example.

She also talks about the image of Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, former US president Donald Trump, former German Chancellor Angela Merkel and New Zealand’s prime minister Jacinda Ardern.