A well-known veteran Hungarian news anchor returning to the screen after 13 years has been fired after his first live broadcast after his defense of pedophiles angered not only viewers but the leaders of news channel HírTV.
While hosting Péter Márki-Zay, who is an opposition politician and the mayor of Hódmezővásárhely, HirTV news anchor István Pálffy said that “a certain patience is undoubtedly needed toward a disease like pedophilia, and at the same time there are their children.”
Márki-Zay asked what kind of patience should be shown towards pedophilia, and the presenter replied that it should be shown toward the pedophile disease because “patience should be shown toward all patients.”
“Excuse me, but a mass murderer can be sick, but that doesn’t mean you have to be patient with mass murderers. You don’t have to be patient with mass murder, and you don’t have to be patient with pedophilia,” Péter Márki-Zay replied.
Pálffy responded by saying, “I am not saying that we should only be patient, I am saying that we should not be confronted with another group. So this is about protecting children.” The live program was broadcast on Aug. 21.
The following day, HírTV published an official statement saying that the anchor was fired with immediate effect.
“In the program ‘Napi aktuális’ broadcasted on Hír TV on Aug. 21, 2023, István Pálffy, the presenter of the program, made a statement and expressed an opinion that is completely incompatible with the principles and credo of our channel. Hír TV distances itself from any statement that supports, excuses or promotes pedophilia. The management of the channel would like to apologize to all those who may have been offended or may have been sensitively affected by this statement. Hír TV today terminated István Pálffy’s contract with immediate effect.”
News outlets in the West have increasingly excused pedophilia or downplayed the need to punish the offense. For example, Slate questions whether pedophiles are “too sick to be punished.“
