The Press: Exit from Budapest

Under steadily mounting pressure from the Kadar government, every Western correspondent in Budapest save Associated Press Veteran Carl Hartman had pulled out of Hungary last week. In the past fortnight, six of the seven remaining reporters for Western wire services and newspapers have either been expelled by the government or voluntarily left Hungary because they were no longer free to gather news. Among the last to leave: Endre Marton, a Hungarian citizen who for ten years has been Budapest correspondent for Associated Press, and his wife, United Press Stringer Ilona Nyilas. The Martons, who were imprisoned in 1955 on trumped-up espionage charges, explained last week that they had no other choice but to flee their country. Other correspondents complained that they were shadowed by secret police wherever they went, and threatened with expulsion if they spoke to any Hungarians outside a few government officials.