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Kornel Klopfstein-Laszlo

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Kornel Klopfstein-Laszlo
Klopfstein at an Open Society Archives event in 2017
Born
Kornél László

1986 or 1987
Budapest, Hungary
NationalityHungarian
Alma materVrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Eötvös Loránd University
EmployerOpen Society Foundations
Known forCo-founder, Nyomtass te is
Board member ofeDemokrácia Műhely Egyesület
RelativesErnest Klopfstein (great-grandfather)

Kornel Klopfstein-Laszlo (born Kornél László, 1986 or 1987[1]) is a New York-based Hungarian journalist, policy analyst, and human rights advocate. He is the co-founder of Print-it-Yourself, a citizen journalism project combating Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's control over the media. In 2020, Klopfstein joined Open Society Foundations, a grantmaking network founded by George Soros. He also serves as a board member of edemokracia.hu, a Central European think tank that promotes press freedom, access to information, and participatory democracy.

Career

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Klopfstein started his career as a journalist. His writing has appeared in Hungarian media outlets, such as the HVG,[2][3][4] Nepszava,[5] Merce,[6] Szombat,[7] Kitekinto,[8] and Stop.hu.[9] He also worked as a foreign correspondent in the United States, Israel and Latin America. Klopfstein later held research and advocacy fellow positions at Human Rights First, GLOBSEC,[10] the ERSTE Foundation,[11] and the Budapest Institute.[12] In 2020, he joined the Open Society Foundations.[13] His team oversees grantmaking in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Pro-democracy advocacy

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Klopfstein has been involved in protests and campaigns against the authoritarian policies of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. In 2017, he was one of the organizers of a large demonstration in Budapest against a bill that threatened to shut down the Central European University.[14][15][16][17] In January 2019, he organized a peaceful protest in front of the Consulate General of Hungary in New York.[18]

In response to the Orban government's state-sponsored disinformation campaigns in rural areas, Klopfstein co-founded Print-it-Yourself with fellow journalists.[19][20][21] Its volunteers distributed more than a million copies of their leaflet both before the 2018 and the 2022 general elections.[22] Following Klopfstein's investigation, Print-it-Yourself broke the story about the Trump administration's withdrawal of a U.S. State Department grant meant to support independent news outlets in Hungary.[23][24][25]

As part of his broader advocacy efforts, Klopfstein speaks and writes about democratic decline,[26][27][28] freedom of information,[29][30][31][32] and media plurality[33][34][35][36] across Central Europe[37][38][39] and Latin America.[40][41] He also advocates for participatory decision-making, citizens' assemblies, and sortition as a mechanism for selecting public officials through a random representative sample.[42][43]

Controversies

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In 2011, California-based Hungarian far-right newspaper Kuruc.info published a racist and anti-Semitic article about Klopfstein's work.[44] He was also targeted by conservative media outlets aligned with the Orban government.[45][46][47] In January 2023, his citizen journalism project came under investigation by the Hungarian intelligence service and news outlets tied to the Prime Minister.[48][49][50][51][52]

Personal life

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Klopfstein is the great-grandson of the Hungarian-American trade union leader, Ernest Klopfstein.[53] He is currently pursuing his doctoral studies at the BGHS Graduate School in History and Sociology.[54] Klopfstein is a former semi-professional basketball player of the Hungarian Division II team Eldorado Basketball Club.[55][56][57]

References

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  1. ^ "Digital Yearbook, 2004-2005". Dózsa György High School, Budapest (in Hungarian). Retrieved 2024-03-10.
  2. ^ "Az Újvidék–Újlipót–Tel-Aviv tengely irányíthatja az izraeli politikát". hvg.hu (in Hungarian). Retrieved 2024-02-26.
  3. ^ "Dél-Amerikáról álmodik az európai nyomor". hvg.hu (in Hungarian). Retrieved 2024-02-26.
  4. ^ "Nem a válság szülte az újnácikat". hvg.hu (in Hungarian). Retrieved 2024-02-26.
  5. ^ "Népszava | Contributors".
  6. ^ "Merce.hu | Contributors".
  7. ^ "Szombat.hu | Contributors".
  8. ^ "Peru: A diktátor lánya vagy az alezredes lesz az elnök?". Kitekintő.hu (in Hungarian). Retrieved 2024-02-26.
  9. ^ "Időzített bombán ülünk, bármikor robbanhat". Stop.hu (in Hungarian). Retrieved 2024-02-26.
  10. ^ "GLOBSEC Youth Trends: How Young Central Europeans View the World" (PDF). GLOBSEC Policy Institute. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2022-09-01. Retrieved 2024-02-26.
  11. ^ "ERSTE Foundation for Social Research website". Archived from the original on 2023-03-26.
  12. ^ "Munkatársak - Budapest Intézet". 2018-04-09. Archived from the original on 2018-04-09. Retrieved 2024-02-26.
  13. ^ "Open Society Foundations - Staff". 2020-05-09. Archived from the original on 2020-05-09. Retrieved 2024-02-26.
  14. ^ "Hungarians Protest Their Leader by the Tens of Thousands". The New York Times.
  15. ^ "Thousands protest in Hungary over threat to Soros university". The Guardian. Retrieved 2024-02-26.
  16. ^ "Thousands demonstrate against new Hungarian bill targeting Soros university". France 24. 2017-04-09. Retrieved 2024-02-26.
  17. ^ "Zehntausende gegen Orbans Hochschulgesetz". tagesschau.de (in German). Retrieved 2024-02-26.
  18. ^ Túlóra Határok Nélkül - tüntetés a New York-i Főkonzulátus előtt, retrieved 2024-02-26
  19. ^ McLaughlin, Daniel. "Hungarians tap 'samizdat' tradition to break Orban's media grip". The Irish Times. Retrieved 2024-02-26.
  20. ^ Schmitz, Rob. "Weekly grassroots newspaper aims to buck Hungarian government propaganda". NPR. Retrieved 2024-03-09.
  21. ^ Leonhard, Ralf (2020-05-21). "Orbán-kritische Straßenzeitung in Ungarn: Preis für Guerilla-Printing". Die Tageszeitung: taz (in German). Retrieved 2024-03-02.
  22. ^ Allsop, Jon. "How Putin's war overshadowed a week of crucial elections in Europe". Columbia Journalism Review. Retrieved 2024-02-26.
  23. ^ Kingsley, Patrick. "Hungary's Leader Was Shunned by Obama, but Has a Friend in Trump". The New York Times. Retrieved 2024-03-09.
  24. ^ Szabolcs, Panyi (2018-07-22). "Kinyírták a független magyar médiát támogató 200 milliós amerikai pályázatot". index.hu (in Hungarian). Retrieved 2024-03-02.
  25. ^ Zsolt, Sarkadi (2018-07-22). "Elkaszálták a független magyar vidéki sajtó megerősítéséről szóló amerikai pályázatot". 444 (in Hungarian). Retrieved 2024-03-02.
  26. ^ "Civil Contribution to the Transition in Eastern Europe | OSA Archivum". osaarchivum.org. Retrieved 2024-02-26.
  27. ^ "Let's stop pretending that Viktor Orban can be replaced by elections – EURACTIV.com". web.archive.org. 2022-04-19. Retrieved 2024-02-26.
  28. ^ Fox, Benjamin. "The dull polls of spring". Euractiv. Retrieved 2024-03-09.
  29. ^ "Improving the transparency of Hungarian municipalities" (PDF). Budapest Institute. Retrieved 2024-03-10.
  30. ^ "Civilek az önkormányzati átláthatóságért". edemokracia.hu (in Hungarian). Retrieved 2024-03-10.
  31. ^ "A magyarországi önkormányzatok átláthatósága és korrupciós kockázatai". slideplayer.hu (in Hungarian). Retrieved 2024-03-10.
  32. ^ "Száz Százalékban Átlátható Önkormányzatok Klubja alakul". Települési Önkormányzatok Országos Szövetsége (in Hungarian). Retrieved 2024-03-10.
  33. ^ Walker, Shaun (2018-03-28). "'Ghettos and no-go zones': Hungary's far right fuels migrant fears ahead of vote". The Guardian. Retrieved 2024-02-26.
  34. ^ Schultheis, Emily (2022-03-31). "Will Putin's War Hurt His Best Friend in Europe?". POLITICO. Retrieved 2024-02-26.
  35. ^ Medin, Joakim (2022-04-03). "Här finns Orbáns kärnväljare". Dagens ETC (in Swedish). Retrieved 2024-02-26.
  36. ^ Berger, Vojtěch (2020-04-30). "Samizdat se vrací. V Maďarsku zbyl jako poslední šance, jak bojovat s vládní propagandou". HlídacíPes.org (in Czech). Retrieved 2024-02-26.
  37. ^ "Summer School 2015 | MiReKoc". Retrieved 2024-03-03.
  38. ^ "Diasporas, nation states and mainstream societies in Central and Eastern Europe". Central European University. Retrieved 2024-03-03.
  39. ^ "Nationalism Studies Program, Central European University" (PDF).
  40. ^ "Új rózsaszín hullám: mit tanulhatunk a baloldal dél-amerikai feltámadásából?". Mérce (in Hungarian). 2023-01-05. Retrieved 2024-03-03.
  41. ^ "MTA Politikatudományi Szemle, 2011/3 (XX. évfolyam)" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2019-08-03. Retrieved 2024-03-03.
  42. ^ Farkas, Gyorgy. "Befutó helyre a népet, jöjjön a sorsolásos demokrácia!". 24.hu (in Hungarian). Retrieved 2024-02-26.
  43. ^ "Sorsolásos demokráciával kísérleteznek Magyarországon". VS.hu. Retrieved 2024-03-09.
  44. ^ "Kuruc.info - Folytatódik a bolgárok cigányellenes forradalma". Kuruc.info hírportál (in Hungarian). Retrieved 2024-02-26.
  45. ^ "Nyílt Társadalom Alapítvány munkatársa: ne tegyünk úgy, mintha Orbán Viktor választásokkal leváltható lenne". Mandiner (in Hungarian). Retrieved 2024-02-26.
  46. ^ "And Mr. Woland appears". Civilek Infó. Retrieved 2024-02-26.
  47. ^ "George Soros' Son Congratulates Macron". The European Conservative. Retrieved 2024-03-10.
  48. ^ "Hungarian secret service claims to have found 4 billion HUF of foreign funding behind opposition's campaign". Telex.hu (in Hungarian). Retrieved 2024-03-02.
  49. ^ "Special Report, Hungarian Intelligence Service (NIK)". Hungarian Parliament.
  50. ^ "A baloldal vidékieket lenéző kampányújságjáig is elgurultak a dollárok". Magyar Nemzet (in Hungarian). Retrieved 2024-03-02.
  51. ^ "Behálózza a vidék Magyarországát Soros dollármédiája". Origo (in Hungarian). Retrieved 2024-03-02.
  52. ^ Kata, Jurák. "Újabb támadást indítottak a Soros-szervezetek". PestiSrácok (in Hungarian). Retrieved 2024-03-02.
  53. ^ "Ernest Klopfstein, FamilySearch Archives". www.familysearch.org. Retrieved 2024-03-03.
  54. ^ "Fakultät für Soziologie, Universität Bielefeld".
  55. ^ "NB.II. Férfi A csoport, 2007-2008". Budapesti Kosárlabdázók Szövetsége (in Hungarian). Retrieved 2024-03-02.
  56. ^ "Regionális férfi csoport, 2008-2009". Budapesti Kosárlabdázók Szövetsége (in Hungarian). Retrieved 2024-03-02.
  57. ^ "F2KB-0162, Sep 2006". www.budbasket.hu. Retrieved 2024-03-02.
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