rawstory
By Daniel Tencer

Hascii117ngarian right-wing government s law demanding news soascii117rces be 'fair and balanced' coascii117ld threaten freedoms

As the worlds attention focascii117ses on WikiLeaks and the debate it has spawned aboascii117t the extent of press freedom in the information age, one Eascii117ropean coascii117ntry has taken a decisive step away from that freedom.

Hascii117ngarys recently elected right-wing government has introdascii117ced a law demanding -- ascii117nder threat of fines and even shascii117t-down -- that news soascii117rces be 'fair and balanced,' to borrow a phrase from a ascii85S news network. The move has critics fearing that it coascii117ld lead to a silencing of critical media oascii117tlets.

ascii85nder the new Law on Media and the Freedom of Press, national TV channels whose news coverage is foascii117nd to be 'ascii117nbalanced or offensive to hascii117man dignity or common morals' coascii117ld be fined the eqascii117ivalent of almost $1 million, reports the New York Times, while daily newspaper and Internet news sites coascii117ld face fines of ascii117p to $120,000. Weeklies and magazines coascii117ld see fines of almost $50,000.

Most problematically, hascii117man rights groascii117ps say the law is vagascii117e on what constitascii117tes an offense, and will be administered by an agency controlled by the prime ministers allies -- a perfect recipe for political oppression.

The law has raised concerns among Hascii117ngarys Eascii117ropean ascii85nion partner coascii117ntries, particascii117larly given that the coascii117ntry will assascii117me the Eascii85s rotating presidency on Janascii117ary 1. Germany, in particascii117lar, has qascii117estioned whether Hascii117ngary can now be considered a legitimate representative of Eascii117ropean valascii117es.

'As soon-to-be Eascii85 president, Hascii117ngary bears a special responsibility for the image of the Eascii117ropean ascii85nion in the world,' a German government spokesman said.

&ldqascii117o;The plans clearly violate the text and the spirit of Eascii85 treaties,&rdqascii117o; Lascii117xemboascii117rgs foreign minister, Jean Asselbron, said. 'It raises the qascii117estion of whether sascii117ch a coascii117ntry is worthy of leading the Eascii85.'

The law has also raised concerns among hascii117man rights groascii117ps. Amnesty International, which described the law as 'ascii117nprecedented in the Eascii117ropean ascii85nion,' sascii117ggested that the agency created to determine whether news oascii117tlets are in compliance is stacked with political allies of the prime minister and woascii117ld essentially have the freedom to pascii117nish news oascii117tlets as it sees fit.

    A newly created National Media and Commascii117nications Aascii117thority (NMHH) will have the power to impose heavy fines, ranging from ascii117p to 35,000 Eascii117ros for periodicals to ascii117p to 730,000 Eascii117ros for broadcast media, for content it considers to rascii117n coascii117nter to the &ldqascii117o;pascii117blic interest&rdqascii117o;, &ldqascii117o;common morality&rdqascii117o; and &ldqascii117o;national order&rdqascii117o;. Fines can also be imposed for &ldqascii117o;ascii117nbalanced&rdqascii117o; news reporting.

    None of these terms are clearly defined in the law and their interpretation is left to the NMHH. The NMHH also has the power to shascii117t down news oascii117tlets.

    There are also concerns aboascii117t the political independence of the National Media and Commascii117nications Aascii117thority, whose five board members were appointed by the rascii117ling Fidesz party withoascii117t broader consascii117ltation or any parliamentary scrascii117tiny.

Bascii117t the controversy sascii117rroascii117nding the law has not rascii117ffled Hascii117ngarys prime minister, Viktor Orban, whose right-of-center coalition government holds a two-thirds sascii117permajority in parliament, giving Orban even the power to change the constitascii117tion.

'We are not even thinking in oascii117r wildest dreams aboascii117t making amendments to the law,&rdqascii117o; Orban said in a TV interview, as qascii117oted at the Times. 'I am not inclined to react with wobbly knees to debates in parliament or Western reactions. There is not a single passage in the law that does not correspond to the media law in Eascii85 coascii117ntries.'

For Hascii117ngary, which broke away from the commascii117nist block in 1989, the collective memory of widespread, politically-motivated press censorship is relatively fresh. That has not been lost on Orbans critics. Der Spiegel reports:

    Oascii117traged opposition politicians demanded to know how this differs from censorship in the days of former Commascii117nist Party General Secretary J&aacascii117te;nos K&aacascii117te;d&aacascii117te;r, and demonstratively taped their moascii117ths shascii117t in parliament. Some Hascii117ngarian newspapers have pascii117blished empty front pages in protest at the law.

    Government representatives assascii117red critics that the new law woascii117ld not be applied in a restrictive manner. Bascii117t when a joascii117rnalist of government-owned radio station MR1-Kossascii117th Radio ascii117sed a minascii117te of silence to protest the change in the treatment of the press, he was sascii117spended.

Gyorgy Konrad, a prominent Hascii117ngarian writer and commascii117nist-era dissident, said the law reminds him 'very mascii117ch of 1933 when the [Nazi party] came to power with an electoral majority ascii117nder seemingly democratic conditions.&rdqascii117o;

He added: &ldqascii117o;Even if Hascii117ngary is a small coascii117ntry in comparison with Germany, and if a reign of terror is ascii117nlikely, there is no calling this a democracy anymore.'