29 September 2011

The Media Support and Asset Management Fund filed a complaint against the Labor Court’s decision that ruled that mass lay-offs in the public media sector were unlawful and should be stopped.
http://www.fn.hu/allas/20110929/nem_fuggesztik_fel_kirugasokat/


Balázs Weyer and Péter Nádori, editors-in-chief of the leading online news portal Origo, announced to quit their positions. Both of them said the decision was based on mutual agreement with the company.
http://www.emasa.hu/cikk.php?id=8871

28 September 2011

Access Info Europe and the Center for Law and Democracy published the global right to information index, a comprehensive comparative analysis of the legal frameworks for accessing information in 89 countries. Scoring 79 points, Hungary is in the middle range.
http://www.law-democracy.org/?page_id=1114

27 September 2011

Despite amendments passed in March intended to defuse this criticism, troubling provisions remain, including restrictive content requirements, a highly centralised regime of regulation under the prime minister’s control, high fines for violations of the law and weak protection of the confidentiality of journalists’ sources.” – said the IPI resolution passed during the IPI World Congress 2011 in Taipei.
http://www.freemedia.at/home/singleview/article/resolutions-issued-by-the-ipi-membership-at-the-60th-annual-ipi-general-assembly-in-taipei-taiwan.html

26 September 2011

The National Media and Info Communications Authority launched the website internethotline.hu, which provides an opportunity to complain about inappropriate online content. The site also offers information about safe internet usage and conscious media consumption.

23 September 2011

The United States remains concerned about amendments to Hungary’s constitution and the content of new laws, such as the media law and the religion law, as well as those regarding judicial independence; however, it is encouraged by Hungary’s willingness to discuss these issues openly with the UN Human Rights Council emphasised Eileen Chamberlain Donahoe U.S. Ambassador to the Human Rights Council at the Council’s meeting.
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=11427&LangID=E

 

22 September 2011

“The heavily criticised Media Law which gently curtails freedom of the press and expression in the country seems to be just the beginning of a much broader democratic and constitutional restriction,” said the Austrian Journalist’s Union, explaining the reason for launching a petition.
http://www.gpa-djp.at/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=GPA/Page/Index&n=GPA_11.1.a&cid=1315993777456

20 September 2011

The Budapest-based liberal think tank, Republikon Institute, held a conference titled “Media law in practice” with the participation of experts, editors and journalists. Voices of concern were raised by media experts and foreign journalists about the independence of the Media Authority and the chilling effect of the law. Representatives of the leading commercial channels admitted that the evening news programmes were restructured due to the decreasing need of the audience in political developments.
http://republikon.hu/news.php?id=239&filter=Vez%C3%A9rcikk+rot%C3%A1tor
http://mediajogfigyelo.hu/index.php?do=a&id=1833


Labour Unions declared they were to file a complaint to the National Media and Infocommunications Authority against the public television for not reporting about the announcement of a countrywide series of protests organised by the labour unions, though these were significant pieces of information of public interest and the coverage of these cases would be an obligation of the public broadcasters, according to the media law.
http://nol.hu/belfold/feljelenti_a_mediahatosagnal_a_kozteveket_a_szakszervezet
http://www.szakszervezetek.hu/index.php/hirek/4178--feljelenti-a-mediahatosagnal-a-koezteveket-a-vdsz

19 September 2011

Photographers of the two leading online news portals Index.hu and Origo.hu were banned from the Parliament after breaking a rule by taking a photo of the script of PM Viktor Orbán’s speech on 12 September 2011. Both photographers admitted that they had breached the rules, but they initiated consultations about altering the rules of reporting from the Parliament. Since February, in the main chamber of the Parliament, media representatives are only allowed to stay in a designated area, limiting the options for photographers to take pictures of the members of the Parliament.
http://mandiner.hu/cikk/20110919_kitiltottak_a_parlamentbol_az_index_es_az_origo_fotosait
http://tenytar.blog.hu/2011/09/22/a_parlamentben_fenykepezni_tilos

16 September 2011

Hungary is making good progress on the road to solidifying its democracy but the United States has expressed concerns to the Hungarian government about the lack of consultations during the process of drafting a new constitution as well as several new laws, said Thomas O. Melia, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Department of State’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, at a press conference on Friday.
http://www.politics.hu/20110919/us-state-department-official-says-hungary-progressing-on-democratic-path-but-concerns-remain/
http://hirszerzo.hu/kulfold/20110916_thomas_melia_aggodalom

14 September 2011

Expressing concerns about the declining press freedom situation in Europe, EurActive stated that there “has been a new wave of censorship and politically-motivated attempts to intimidate media through lawsuits. This trend spans the continent: the passage of a controversial media law in Hungary, perhaps the gravest case in the EU in this respect, was also an opportunity for MEPs to highlight the need to ‘reconquer’ press freedom in other countries such as France, Italy, Romania and Bulgaria.” http://www.euractiv.com/pa/press-europe-freedom-pluralism-risk-linksdossier-507125

9 September 2011

The Labour Court announced the mass lay-offs in the Hungarian public media to be an infringement and called on the Media Support and Asset Management Fund to suspend the massive redundancies. http://index.hu/kultur/media/2011/09/09/torvenytelen_a_kozszolgalati_media_leepitese/

8 September 2011

The London-based free speech organisation, ARTICLE 19, issued a statement reflecting the possible closure of Klubradio, a Hungarian talk radio that is strongly critical of the current government. “ARTICLE 19 is concerned that the Hungarian Media Council is stifling free speech and disregarding media pluralism in the country. Expansive discretionary powers over licensing decisions given to the Council by recent media laws are being abused to censor political debate and have left the popular radio station, KlubRadio, on the verge of closure.”
http://www.article19.org/resources.php/resource/2723/en/index.php?lang=en

7 September 2011

“OSCE press freedom commitments include media diversity, and I am not convinced that the current call for applications is in line with these,” said Dunja Mijatovic, OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, about the National Media and Infocommunications Authority’s much criticised tendering process for Klubradio’s frequency (see 21 July 2011).
Furthermore Mijatovic expressed her hope that the Authority would not oblige Tamás Bodoky, editor-in-chief of the website atlatszo.hu, to reveal his sources (see 27 July 2011).
http://nol.hu/lap/mo/20110907-nem_eleg_kozmetikazni

5 September 2011

The Media Council fined the right-wing television channel Echo TV 500,000 HUF (approximately 1,800 EUR) over a February broadcast of the programme “Worldpanorama,” which contained openly racist statements. The presenter spoke of “Gypsies, Gypsy terrorism” and the “Nazi liberals” whose goal is to “inflict parasitic human-like figures on Hungarians.”The broadcast violated media regulations on respecting human dignity and incitement to hatred, the Media Council said.
http://www.budapesttimes.hu/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=20401&Itemid=159
http://www.politics.hu/20110906/media-council-fines-tv-station-for-hate-speech/

2 September 2011

Neelie Kroes, EU commissioner in charge of the 'Digital Agenda,' sent letters to eight EU member states, including Hungary, asking for information on their implementation of the Audiovisual Media Services (AVMS) Directive, a piece of legislation that was put in place to ensure that a 'level-playing field' exists between traditional TV-based and online broadcasters. The Commission requested the eight countries to reply within 10 weeks.
http://www.euractiv.com/en/infosociety/commission-screens-media-law-implementation-news-507232

1 September 2011

As of 1 September 2011, no decision has been made by the Constitutional Court about any of the petitions that were filed related to the media law. All of the opposition parties (MSZP, Jobbik, LMP), the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union (TASZ), the Association of Hungarian Journalists (MÚOSZ) and civil citizens turned to the Constitutional Court asking for a repeal of the media act. On 1 September 2011, the number of judges expanded from 10 to 15. All of the new judges were nominated by the governing coalition.
http://www.inforadio.hu/hir/belfold/hir-454027