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 News From You
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Week ending January 15, 2011
The EBU appealed today to the Hungarian Prime Minister (see attached letter, available in English only) to act to ensure that media reform in Hungary upholds the principle of media plurality enshrined in the EU Amsterdam Treaty Protocol on public broadcasting.
The EBU’s letter asked the Prime Minister, “to be responsive to its concerns about the threats to freedom, independence and pluralism of the media in Hungary posed by the new law and to pay particular attention to the reform of public service media so as to ensure full respect of public service values, in particular editorial independence and pluralistic governance.”
The EBU strongly supports the establishment of a modern, competitive, well-funded, independent and pluralistic public service media system in Hungary and has been closely following developments in Hungary over the past year, participating in high-level meetings with politicians on the subject. However, the letter notes that the EBU is now anxious about the future independence of public media and its capacity to represent the plurality of views within Hungary in the future.
The EBU expressed concern at the scope and content of the new media law and said, “It would be a paradox if Hungary, whose reputation as a country has been one that strives for freedom, should set an unfortunate precedent in terms of the governance and supervision and control of the media, and restriction of pluralism.”
Dr Viktor Orbán
Prime Minister of the Republic of Hungary
Miniszterelnöki Hivatal
1055 Budapest, Kossuth L. tér 2-4
Geneva, 14 January 2011
Dear Prime Minister,
The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) - established in 1950 and representing 75 public service broadcasters from in and around Europe, - has closely followed the development of public service broadcasting in Hungary, particularly since Magyar Radio and Magyar Televisio joined the EBU in 1993 following the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe. Since then the EBU has tried to support both organizations in the face of numerous difficulties and blockages which were encountered again and again. Despite a promising start at the beginning of the transformation from communism, and some recent successes, the progressive development of public service broadcasting in Hungary has unfortunately been impeded in many respects. Nonetheless, both organizations have continued throughout that period to form an important part of the international community of public service broadcasters. Through their membership of the EBU they have been able to bring to their country vast amounts of Eurovision news, sports, classical music and the Eurovision Song Contest.
We were therefore very hopeful last year after discussions with Anna-Maria Szalai and Mr Tibor Navracsics of FIDESZ in Budapest last January, and when your newly-elected government subsequently announced an overall reform of the public broadcasting system with the declared objective of strengthening public service broadcasting.
Since then, however, we have watched developments with growing concern, including the controversy raised by the new media law and the appointments for the new regulatory authority and media council, as well as the first implementation steps taken with regard to Magyar Radio, Magyar Televizio, Duna TV and MTI -especially the creation and imposition of uniform national news bulletins. It would be a paradox if Hungary, whose reputation as a country has been one which strives for freedom, should set an unfortunate precedent in terms of the governance and supervision and control of the media, and restriction of pluralism.
We strongly support the establishment of a modern, competitive, well-funded, independent and pluralistic public service media system in Hungary. However, in view of the above-mentioned developments, the lack of public debate and the failure to include other socially relevant groups within Hungary in discussions on the establishment of this new system, we are very concerned about the state of its independence and its capacity to represent the plurality of views within Hungary in the future.
In our experience, one of the essential conditions of success for public service broadcasting organizations is the public's trust in their independence. Measures such as party-political appointments, disproportionate sanctions for the infringements of content rules, the suspension of critical news editors, or the centralization and homogenization of news provision may have a devastating effect in this respect.
We therefore strongly appeal to you to be responsive to our concerns about the threats to freedom, independence and pluralism of the media in Hungary posed by the new law and to pay particular attention to the reform of public service media so as to ensure full respect of public service values, in particular editorial independence and pluralistic governance.
We trust that you will ensure that this reform will be guided by the basic principles on public service media as defined by the Council of Europe and which have recently been reinforced by the European Parliament resolution of 25 November 2010 on public service broadcasting in the digital era (the Belet report).
As you know, the Amsterdam Protocol, annexed to the EU Treaty states ‘that the system of public broadcasting in the Member States is directly related to the democratic, social and cultural needs of each society and to the need to preserve media pluralism’. It is therefore incumbent on all Member States to respect this principle.
One of the fundamental purposes of the EBU is to promote and develop the values of public service media. It is in this spirit that we have been successfully supporting, for many years, the growth and accomplishments of our national Members. The EBU stands ready to do what it can to assist, including the high-level EBU delegation visit to Budapest offered by the EBU Director General to Ms Szalai, in her letter of 17 December.
Most respectfully yours,
Jean-Paul Philippot President
Ingrid Deltenre Director General
Sixty-six journalists and other media workers were killed world-wide because of their professional activities in 2010, with Mexico and Pakistan emerging as the most deadly countries for journalists, the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) said Wednesday.
Ten journalists were killed in both Mexico and Pakistan in 2010, as narcotics trafficking in the former and insurgency in the latter have put journalists in the line of fire. That compares with nine killed in Mexico and eight in Pakistan in 2009.
Honduras emerged as a deadly country for journalists, with eight killed in 2010 and many others receiving death threats. Most of the journalists targeted covered organised crime, drug trafficking and land disputes. Journalists have also been caught in the violent political polarisation between the opponents of the June 2009 military coup and its supporters.
The 2010 death toll, released after investigation into all potential media murders, compares with 99 killed in 2009, 70 killed in 2008, 95 killed in 2007, 110 killed in 2006 and 58 killed in 2005.
In addition to the dangers of covering war and conflict, journalists in many countries are also being targeted and killed for investigating organised crime, drug trafficking, corruption and other crimes. They are often killed with impunity, with nobody brought to justice for the murders in the majority of cases.
"Killing journalists is the ultimate form of censorship, and a direct attack on society as a whole. Yet far too often, the perpetrators of these crimes never face prosecution," said Christoph Riess, CEO of WAN-IFRA, the global association of the world's press.
"These murders should be prosecuted thoroughly and those responsible brought to justice. Journalists must be able to exercise their right to freedom of expression without fear of violence," he said.
Journalists and other media workers were killed in 24 countries in 2010: Afghanistan (1); Angola (2); Brazil (1); Bulgaria (1); Cameroon (1); Colombia (1); Cyprus (1); Democratic Republic of Congo (1); Greece (1); Honduras (8); India (1); Indonesia (3); Iraq (7); Mexico (10); Nepal (2); Nigeria (3); Pakistan (10); Philippines (3); Russia (1); Rwanda (1); Somalia (2); Thailand (2); Uganda (2); and Yemen (1).
Several press freedom organisations track the number of journalists killed each year. The numbers vary based on the criteria used by different associations. WAN-IFRA’s figures include all media workers killed in the line of duty or targeted because of their work. It also includes cases where the motive for the killings is unsure or where official investigations have not been completed.
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