Hungary: Newspapers protest against media law
On Monday, two Hungarian daily newspapers protested the new restrictive media law on their front pages. The law, which has been sharply criticized internationally, took effect on January 1, at the same time that Hungary assumed the EU Council presidency.
"Freedom of the press has come to an end in Hungary" was printed in all 23 official EU languages on the front page of the left-liberal newspaper Nepszabadsag. The social-democratic paper Nepszava wrote in Hungarian and English: "In a country of the European Union, freedom of the press is a fundamental value. We must defend our democratic rights in Hungary. Let's demand freedom of the press!"
They are convinced that the media law serves the government's "authoritarian aspirations", Nepszabdadsag continued. It offers the possibility of punishing "and ultimately even destroying" those who hold a different opinion. The Nepszava newspaper said it believed that Europe recognized the "anti-democratic" nature of the Hungarian government's measures.
Under the new law, a supervisory authority controls all Hungarian media, including their content. Violations of vague regulations could result in heavy fines, which could drive some publications to ruin. All Hungarian opposition parties want to challenge the law before the Constitutional Court. Strong criticism of the new regulations has come from the governments in Berlin, Prague and Luxembourg, from human rights organizations and Professional associations. The EU Commission is examining the law.
