Control, Responsibility, Censorship: The Institutional Structure of Hungarian Press Regulation During the First World War – Within the Framework of the 1912 Act on Exceptional Powers

This study explores the institutional structure of press regulation in Hungary during the First World War, with particular emphasis on the reconstruction of jurisdictional and supervisory relationships. Rather than following a unified, hierarchical model, the wartime system operated through a complex, multi-actor network involving ministries, the Board of Military Supervision (HFB), the Press Subcommittee, prosecutorial authorities, military commands, and the Prime Minister’s Press Office. Drawing on archival sources and official reports, the analysis outlines how actual control over the press was divided, how political, military, and judicial authorities exercised oversight, and how mechanisms such as the “three-hour censorship,” confidential notices, and objective prohibitions functioned in practice. Particular attention is paid to the fragmented and contingent nature of provincial press oversight, shaped by structural inconsistencies, linguistic limitations, and proximity to the front. Rather than relying on abstract theoretical frameworks, the article reconstructs the internal dynamics of exceptional legal regulation through the lens of everyday practice and applied legal logic.