Keyword – Lake Balaton

Bódi, Jenő:

“From this virus puddle…”

This paper studies the media scandal about the water quality of Lake Balaton in June 2014. After the Hungarian Swimming Day in Balatonfüred, several participating athletes fell ill, including nationally known swimmers. The Hungarian media began to cover the incident vigorously, with several news reports on the diseases and the water quality of Lake Balaton. The research presented here analyses the debate in the media and the emerging social discourse. It identifies four modes of speech, including: lay and expert discourse on water quality and disease; the media policy discourse of local politicians, tourism actors and commenting readers; and the lay discourse on the tourism implications of the scandal.

Keywords: comment analysis, experts and lay people, Lake Balaton, risk, reader comments, scandal, social discourse, water quality