Viktor Orban's regime has created and managed a vast media empire in North Macedonia.
The expansion of Hungarian media interests in a country controlled by businessmen linked to the Hungarian prime minister has become increasingly evident in recent years.
This is according to an investigation by Dimitar Keranov, an expert at the Euro-Atlantic think tank German Marshall Fund (GMF), Euronews reports. 
With strategic acquisitions of key TV channels and news portals, Budapest's influence is already permeating the country's public discourse. Two media executives, Peter Schatz and Agnes Adamik, have organised the purchase of major media outlets, including TV Alfa, the portals Republika, Kurir, Leader, Denesen, Ekonomski, Vistina and Netpress, the investigation said.
What they have in common is that they are all linked to the ruling nationalist party VMRO-DPMNE and its leaders, including Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski.
The investigations revealed that the channels supporting VMRO-DPMNE also received indirect financial support from Hungarian companies through advertisements. This financial support has helped maintain media networks linked to Nikola Gruevski, who fled to Budapest in 2018 to avoid a corruption conviction and has remained there under the protection of Viktor Orban since.
Other recent developments also highlight Hungary's growing engagement with North Macedonia, the GMF analyst writes. Last year, the government in Budapest granted Skopje a $500 million loan, which was repaid from a €1 billion loan just received from China. This is the largest Hungarian financial support for another country.
North Macedonia is moving away from the path to EU membership under its current government and is closer and closer to the bloc, which includes China, Hungary, Russia and Serbia. By promoting an illiberal model of governance, funding nationalist media and protecting political allies such as Gruevski and Mitkoski, Orban is strengthening his long-term influence in the Balkans, the expert concludes.
A telling example of the Hungarian prime minister's influence in the Balkans is a recent case uncovered by the investigative portal VSquare: In late February, Hungarian special forces were dispatched to Republika Srpska with a secret purpose: to facilitate the quick escape of Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik to Hungary, should the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina order his immediate arrest for his separatist actions.
The plan is not being implemented, mainly for two reasons. Firstly, although Dodik was indeed sentenced to prison, he was not arrested and given the opportunity to appeal. Secondly, the Hungarian plan was uncovered by a number of governments and authorities that are closely monitoring the region. The cover-up for the Hungarian troops was a 'joint exercise' with the local police in Republika Srpska. I BGNES