- Source: Kornel Klopfstein-Laszlo
Kornel Klopfstein-Laszlo (born Kornél László, 1986 or 1987) 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
Klopfstein started his career as a journalist. His writing has appeared in Hungarian media outlets, such as the HVG, Nepszava, Merce, Szombat, Kitekinto, and Stop.hu. 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, the ERSTE Foundation, and the Budapest Institute. In 2020, he joined the Open Society Foundations. His team oversees grantmaking in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Pro-democracy advocacy
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. In January 2019, he organized a peaceful protest in front of the Consulate General of Hungary in New York.
In response to the Orban government's state-sponsored disinformation campaigns in rural areas, Klopfstein co-founded Print-it-Yourself with fellow journalists. Its volunteers distributed more than a million copies of their leaflet both before the 2018 and the 2022 general elections. 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.
As part of his broader advocacy efforts, Klopfstein speaks and writes about democratic decline, freedom of information, and media plurality across Central Europe and Latin America. He also advocates for participatory decision-making, citizens' assemblies, and sortition as a mechanism for selecting public officials through a random representative sample.
Controversies
In 2011, California-based Hungarian far-right newspaper Kuruc.info published a racist and anti-Semitic article about Klopfstein's work. He was also targeted by conservative media outlets aligned with the Orban government. In January 2023, his citizen journalism project came under investigation by the Hungarian intelligence service and news outlets tied to the Prime Minister.
Personal life
Klopfstein is the great-grandson of the Hungarian-American trade union leader, Ernest Klopfstein. He is currently pursuing his doctoral studies at the BGHS Graduate School in History and Sociology. Klopfstein is a former semi-professional basketball player of the Hungarian Division II team Eldorado Basketball Club.