Hungary is pushing Europe back
Hungary's new law on mass media can become a real bludgeon for free press. The European Union, the European Parliament, the European Commission, the Council of Europe, the OSCE, the UN, European and local journalistic organizations have criticized this law, which envisages provisions that lead to censure. Certain technical corrections have been made in the law after criticism, but the content has apparently remained unchanged.
The law adopted in December of last year will be enforced starting on July 1. The fine may reach up to hundreds of thousands of Euros. The date is not considered by chance since July 1 marks the end of Hungary's six-month presidency in the EU.
Deputy editor of "Nepszbadsag" newspaper Gabor Horvath says their newspaper doesn't want anyone to get involved in their issues and in this case, the one getting involved and overseeing is a special body whose functions remain unclear.
"To put it mildly, it is not transparent and we don't know the motives. We don't know how the body will use its levers," said Mr. Horvath. The members of that body are the members of the ruling "Pidesh" party, which took two-thirds of the seats in parliament after the last elections.
"They wrote the law and they are carrying it out," says the deputy editor.
According to the law, the media council can demand that a journalist reveal the source of information, present additional facts and use those facts against the press. The council members can carry out investigations, demand financial documents and the media can't go against it.
According to Mr. Horvath, people working for the public media will have a harder time. Horvat recalls the story of "Magyar" Radio's morning program editor Zsolt Bogar who stayed silent for a minute as a sign a protest a day after the law was ratified. As a result, Bogar has been deprived of airtime for several months now, but he doesn't consider himself a "victim of the law".
According to mass media representatives, the public is not too concerned about journalists' rights. In fact, the law doesn't specifically mention anything regarding journalists' rights.
However, there is already a social group on Facebook, which has already held three protests in Budapest. One of the organizers of the Facebook group called "1 million people for free press", former soldier Robert Folkel has met with Armenian, Azeri and Georgian journalists in Budapest through the "European Neighborhood Journalists' Network" program.
Senior advisor of the Media Council Gyorgy Ocsko doesn't view the criticism as appropriate and says the new law is not an attempt to make the media submissive. According to him, those who are criticizing the law haven't read it. "It is a political order," says Ocsko, claiming that there are such regulatory bodies across Europe and that Hungary is simply trying to defend the society from the flow of information advocating nationalist ideas, hatred and violence.
Former OSCE representative on freedom of the media Miklos Haraszti responds to Gyorgy Ocsko's clarifications with a smile. He assures that European organizations are well aware of the situation and the threats emanating from the law are real.
Former Minister of Foreign Affairs, oppositionist Laszlo Kovacs recalls all international organizations' demand to change the law "On Mass Media" in its entirety and says the Hungarian government is under internal and external control. He wasn't able to say whether the demands would be fulfilled, but is sure that "the government will not be reputable for keeping the law as it is."
Experts say public discontent with the government's actions is growing day after day.
Karine Asatryan
Budapest-Yerevan
