10 June 2012
Once again Fidesz is revamping its communications structure and strategy. I have lost count how often this has happened since the 2010 election but it tells you one thing – the governing party has failed to get to grips with a key component of modern governance.
The reason behind this debacle is simple – inexperience and ineptitude.Too many of Fidesz’s media managers are actually very poor communicators and are simply not up to the job. More, they are simply not qualified.
Prior to the last election, Fidesz was constantly ‘on message’. The political circumstances at the time of course helped, with the governing Socialist-Liberal coalition disintegrating under a tsunami of incompetence and corruption. However, Fidesz carefully crafted its political strategy and associated media campaign on the back of sound analysis, innovative focused messaging and constantly forcing the Socialists and Liberals onto the back foot. It developed credible and attractive policies based on a thorough understanding of Hungary and the wider world.
Inexplicably, what was a strength before has now become a weakness, a real Achilles Heel and the party hierarchy, including PM Orbán, must take a large share of the blame.
The system utilised between 2006 and the 2010 election was set aside in the balmy days of post-election victory. Too many political cronies and hangers-on were promoted to key positions in communications who had taken no part in the many years of developing a robust knowledge-based political support system. Technically-qualified and gifted analysts were replaced by party hacks whose only competence lay in knowing key party players. Under-qualified bloggers and institute ‘researchers’ were promoted way beyond their level of competence. Sounds familiar doesn’t it?
The fiasco over the handling of the Hungarian Presidency of the EU and the introduction of a new constitution and other laws should have been a wake up call. Government spokespersons in Budapest were totally out of their league as they sought to compete with a European and international media set on making the news as much as reporting it.
Bringing in a firm of English spin doctors has proved to be disastrous. How was this firm – absent any real knowledge of the country and its political scene – meant to craft a coherent media strategy? On what knowledge or experience would they base their analysis of how best to counter the negative message of political opponents both at home and abroad? Was their value based on their fee?
This most recent reshuffling of the communications pack will similarly fail as the others have done before, partly due to the low quality of the people involved and the loose talk of too many politicians who simply never think before talking and that includes the prime minister. For example, who on earth encouraged PM Orbán to claim that he could create ‘a million jobs’. No government in Europe could come anywhere close to achieving this but yet it is a Fidesz promise which will never be delivered. Why make it?
Much has been made of Orbán’s dictatorial style of government but the one thing that dictators usually do well is control the political message. Orbán and Fidesz have singularly failed to do so and as a result, the political opposition in Hungary are being given the opportunity to position themselves on the ground of their choosing for the next election. Some dictator!
Fidesz need to go back and look again why they were so effective between 2006 and 2010. The answers are not difficult to find but they need to act fast.