ABSTRACT
News coverage of the national election campaigns in Hungary has undergone a radical transformation since the democratic régime change took place in 1990. The mass media played a fundamental role from the very beginning in the democratization process. News coverage of the election campaigns became one of the crucial sources of information about events and candidates in the parliamentary, municipal, and European Parliamentary elections. It was able to influence citizens’ ideological, political, and aesthetic views, concepts, and values by using effective marketing tools and appropriate verbal, nonverbal, and visual means of persuasion. Politicians’ and political parties’ tactics and strategies aimed at the ideological manipulation of the citizens would surely be less effective without their adequate media presentation.
