Firing the editor-in-chief of Index is unacceptable

László Bodolai, the CEO of Index.hu Zrt. has terminated the employment of Index's editor-in-chief, Szabolcs Dull. This decision is unacceptable to us.

For years, we've been saying that there are two conditions for the independent operation of Index: that there be no external influence on the content we publish or the structure and composition of our staff. Firing Szabolcs Dull violates our second condition.

Bodolai claims that the editor-in-chief had leaked a preparatory document and that "in the past couple of days," he was no longer able to control or stop internal processes. 

What Bodolai is talking about is the leakage of the concept preparing the complete overhaul of Index, which subsequently led to us setting our independence barometer on amber alert — and that happened a month ago. Since then, the staff has consistently stood by the editor-in-chief. The only thing Szabolcs Dull could not control was how László Bodolai tried to force us to move the barometer back into the green zone by blackmailing us with austerity measures.

In fact, the reason for Dull's dismissal was that he made it clear that he will not yield to blackmail. His dismissal is a clear interference with the composition of our staff, and we cannot regard it any other way but as an overt attempt to apply pressure on Index.hu that will result in the decline of independent reporting. 

Signatories, as of 5:52 PM on 22 July 2020:

Ajpek Orsi

Aradi László

Arnótszky Janka

Ághassi Attila

Bakró-Nagy Ferenc

Barakonyi Szabolcs

Biró Marianna

Bolcsó Dániel

Bozzay Balázs

Bozsó Ágnes

Bóna Samu

Bődey János Gergely

Brückner Gergely

Csatári Flóra Dóra

Cseke Balázs

Cser Ildikó

Csurgó Dénes

Demeter Ági

Dezső András

Egyed Anna

Előd Fruzsina

Fábián Tamás

Fehér János

Fillér Máté

Flachner Balázs

Ficsór Zsolt

Fodor Orsolya

Földes András

Földi Gábor

Haász János

Hanula Zsolt

Hernádi Levente

Hollik Ági

Hudák Hajnal

Huszti István

Iván András

Iván-Nagy Szilvia

Janecskó Kata

Jenei Miklós

Joób Sándor

Juhász Edina

Kaszás Tamás

Kárpáti Márton

Klág Dávid

Kolozsi Ádám

Kolozsvári Tímea

Koroknai Gergely

Kovács Bálint

Kovács Zoltán

Körömi Csongor

Lengyel-Szabó Péter

Lovas Gergő

Marczisovszky Márton

Marjanovic Mira

Martiskó Gábor

Matalin Dóra

Merényi Dániel

Mészáros Tamás

Miklósi Gábor

Mizsur András

Molnár Csaba

Molnár Réka

Munk Veronika

Nagy Attila Károly

Nagy Roland

Nehéz-Posony Ferenc

Német Tamás

Németh Péter

Nyilas Gergely

Pál Tamás

Pálúr Krisztina

Pándi Balázs

Pintér Luca

Pintér Mónika

Presinszky Judit

Rácz Attila

Rovó Attila

Rostás Bianka

Sajó Dávid

Simor Dániel

Somogyi Péter

Stöckert Gábor

Szabó Zoltán

Szalai Bálint

Szalma Baksi Ferenc

Szémann Tamás

Szilágyi Máté

Szilli Tamás

Tenczer Gábor

Thüringer Barbara

Tóth Balázs

Tóth Gergely

Tóth-Szenesi Attila

Török Balázs

Trencsényi Ádám

Varga Attila

Világi Máté

Záborszky Ede

Zsuppán András