Contents – Summer 2026

Pintér, Róbert:

The Social Impact of AI and Robot Representations in Science Fiction

This study examines the relationship between science fiction, artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics based on English-language theoretical and empirical research published until 2025. First, it clarifies the concept of science fiction and its role in shaping expectations about the future, then it presents key precursors rooted in myths and collective fears and reviews why dystopian narratives have become dominant in recent decades. The paper briefly discusses the ambivalent relationship between science and science fiction, as well as the field’s potential to inspire research and innovation. The second, more extensive, part of the paper provides a structured overview of the relevant literature, divided into theoretical contributions, expert perspectives, media analyses and empirical studies focusing on lay audiences. It summarises how AI- and robot-themed science fiction may influence both public and expert perceptions and expectations. Overall, the findings suggest that science fiction functions as a cultural reference framework for thinking about AI and robotics, but its impact on lay perceptions is not linear; rather, it is complex, multi-layered and strongly context-dependent.

Keywords: artificial intelligence, literature review, media effects, robot, science fiction

Gálik, Mihály – Tömpe, István:

The transformation of newspaper publishing in the second half of the 1980s and during the first year of the regime change

The introduction of the New Economic Mechanism in 1968 hardly affected newspaper publishing. Almost nothing changed compared to the central control typical of a planned economy until the mid-1980s, and the party-state supervision of the press, somewhat relaxed in 1962–63, also remained in effect. As part of the reform movements that emerged in the second half of the 1980s, an ad hoc research group of journalists, media researchers and political scientists wrote a proposal to reform the public sphere, because they believed that the reform of public communication was a precondition for the success of the planned economic and social reforms. The idea clearly influenced the newsrooms of political daily papers, as most journalists working there felt that their own livelihoods also depended on whether the reforms would succeed. Using the example of two stateowned nationwide broadsheets, Magyar Hírlap and Magyar Nemzet, we show what options were available to those involved and how they tried to use them. We also discuss what role the government formed after the free elections played in the privatisation of the latter paper. Finally, we briefly touch on how the political negotiations before the shift to a multi-party system conceived of the general handling of state-owned property.

Keywords: journalists, newspapers, privatization, public, reform

Őri, Ádám:

Structural Constraints on Environmental Journalism in Hungary’s Independent Media

This study examines the structural and normative factors that contribute to distortions in environmental journalism in Hungary’s independent media. As the ecological and climate crisis intensifies, the way environmental issues are framed and contextualised in the public sphere becomes increasingly consequential. The public understanding of systemic ecological risks depends significantly on the depth, accuracy and interpretative framing of media coverage. This research combines theoretical and empirical approaches. In addition to reviewing relevant international and Hungarian scholarship, it draws on twenty-two semi-structured interviews conducted with journalists of independent national outlets and educators involved in journalism training. The analysis focuses on newsroom routines, content production pressures, professional role conceptions and institutional constraints shaping environmental reporting. The findings indicate that distortions may not be reduced to political pressure alone. They are also linked to the structural logic of digital news production, including rapid news cycles, commercialisation and audience-driven performance metrics. Moreover, the dominance of the Anglo-Saxon objectivity doctrine – emphasising formal balance and value-neutrality – may create tensions when scientific consensus and political-economic interests are asymmetrical. The absence of specialised environmental journalism training further limits in-depth coverage. The study concludes that current media practices constrain the capacity of journalism to adequately represent the systemic character of the ecological crisis.

Keywords: climate and ecological crisis, environmental journalism, media distortion, new media, objectivity doctrine

Kaposi, Ildikó:

Histories of Gulf Cinema

Gulf cinema in all its forms was intertwined with the processes of negotiating modernity, within whose framework national identities were created and transformed, development goals were set and connections were forged with transnational cultural currents. Film was part of Gulf visual cultures that emerged in the mid-20th century, with art, architecture, fashion, media and advertising all contributing to local spectacles of modernisation. The new millennium saw the emerging region turn to film as a medium for expressing the “will to visibility” (Akil 2016), where both aesthetics and power relations manifested in various strategies of visibility. Power relations played a role in the acceptance, rejection or control of cinema as an instrument of modernity. Within non-linear patterns of development, competing practices and conflicting conceptions emerged regarding what the social role of filmmaking might be in the Persian Gulf.

Keywords: Arab film history, cinema, modernity, Persian Gulf, visual culture