Post-Soviet Media Law & Policy Newsletter

        OSCE presence in Tirane compliments the parliamentary media commission and its chairman, Musa Ulqini, for the drafting of the new draft electronic media law. 
        In a letter that the OSCE head in Tirana, Daan Everts, has sent to the chairman of the media commission of the People’s Assembly of Albania, Musa Ulqini, he writes that OSCE welcomes the draft electronic media law as a very important step forward in Albanian media legislation. 
        According to ambassador Everts, the law has been studied by OSCE representative on the freedom of the media, Mr Freimut Duve, who has said that the law, if properly implemented, should ensure the editorial independence of the public electronic media and create a public broadcasting system in the interests of the Albanian democracy and its citizens. 
        The OSCE presence in Tirana compliments the parliamentary media commission and its chairman and considers of particular interest the composition of the national radio and television council, the complaints council and the steering committee.  It is of the opinion that if these bodies respect the law in full, they should safeguard the independence of the radio and television and provide opportunity to individuals and interested groups to be heard and seen, as well as to guarantee their right to a response. 
        Since the spirit of the so-called Arbnori amendment to promote balanced coverage of political events and prevent, or counter, political manipulation of the news, is addressed in the draft, OSCE believes that the implementation of the law will be a significant step towards unbiased and reliable news coverage. 

ATA news agency, Tirana, October 2, 1998 

II.  Parliament passes radio/TV law. 

        The Albanian parliament passed on [30th September] evening a draft law on public and private radio television.  This law contains 145 articles included in 12 chapters and is drawn up with the assistance of the Council of Europe. 
        It offers mechanisms which enable changing state radio/television into public radio/ television and issue licences for all private radio/television channels. 
        The law bans political parties, religious organizations and state bodies from having private television, while the sponsoring of private television will be made public.  The law was worked out by a group of experts headed by the Socialist deputy, Musa Ulqini.  Its important issues have been discussed at round-table meetings. 

ATA news agency, Tirana, October 1, 1998 

III.  New law bans politicians from influencing media. 

        While negotiations were under way to form a new government [on 30th September], parliament was continuing its usual day’s business.  It passed by a majority vote the law on private and public radio and television stations.  Although this had been one of the most controversial bills outside parliament’s chamber, the debate on it in parliament [on 30th September] was very lukewarm, as the Parliamentary Media Commission, with the Socialists and their communist ideas, and other commissions had decided everything in advance. 
        Musa Ulqini, the chairman of the Parliamentary Commission on Means of Public Information, told his deputy colleagues of the need to provide the media with this law.  Ulqini described the bill as being the most exemplary ever submitted to parliament for approval. 
        The bill had nine clauses and 150 articles.  Under it, private electronic media stations and the Albanian State Radio-Television [TVSh], which is to become public under this law, will be protected from arbitrary interference by any party or nonparty person and any other interference.  “Through this bill, we have ensured maximum protection for the demands of the current opposition, which are now reflected in the law,” Ulqini said. 
        The most controversial article has been Article 21, which says that none of the owners of a shareholder company of any national radio or television stations can hold more than 33 per cent of the shares. 
        Despite strong opposition from independent deputy Nikolle Lesi, who is also secretary of the Media Commission, this article was not amended to reflect Lesi’s proposal that a single person should be able to own a national radio or television station, as the case is in Italy, Greece, France, Germany, and elsewhere. . . .  The members approved the 150 articles in one hour and 45 minutes, which is rare in the history of parliament. 
        This bill also breaks the record of the number of articles approved in such a short time by deputies who did not know what they were voting for and did not even have a copy of the bill in front of them. 

‘Koha Jone,’ Tirana, October 1, 1998 

        The MPs took note of President Petar Stoyanov’s veto on the law on radio and television and voted zero to 70, with 128 abstentions, to repeal six of its provisions and subject them to a repeat discussion. 
        According to the parliamentary rules of procedure, in cases such as this one, the procedure is the same as between the first and the second reading of a bill.  The MPs have until [29th October] to submit their draft amendments but only as regards the provisions in question. 
        Stoyanov presented [on 22nd October] before parliament his motives for vetoing the law.  He cited the following points among the ones he disapproves of and recommends that they be given further consideration:  the procedure for the forming of the National Radio and Television Council, the restriction on programming in the mother tongue to the regional broadcasts of the national media, the calculation of due television and radio charges on the number of electricity meters, the ban on advertising during the primetime programming of the national television and the restriction preventing physical persons from applying for radio and television licences. 
        Stoyanov suggested that the mandate of the council be extended from three to six years, that the number of its members be increased to nine and that some of them occupy the position on rotational basis. 
        In its report, the Committee on Culture and Media proposes that the text on the procedure for the forming of the council be approved in the format suggested by the president. 
        The committee also agreed with the rest of Stoyanov’s motives for vetoing the law and included in its report his recommendation that the discussion on the text banning advertising from primetime national television programming should continue until a nationwide broadcasting private television is licensed. 
        Euro-Left MP Dimo Dimov said that the overall philosophy of the law still imposes the will of the majority on the media.  In his view, the political influence on the composition of the council will be ruled out only if its members are elected by a qualified majority in parliament which, however, would be unconstitutional.  That is why the Euro-Left will renew its proposal to amend the constitution, Dimov said. 
        The Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) is against the media law, in favour of the presidential veto and against the suggestions made by Stoyanov, Ivo Atanasov said, calling on the MPs to approve the presidential veto. 
        The MPs voted down a proposal by BSP MP Ginyo Ganev to have a roll call.  “That would mean wasting a whole hour,” said Ivan Kurtev, MP from the ruling Union of Democratic Forces.  He said that the vote is obvious anyway since a computerized system is being used. 

BTA news agency, Sofia, October 22, 1998 

II.  Reaction to premier’s veto of media law. 

        The government will submit to parliament a revised version of the national television budget if the text banning advertising during prime time until a private TV station is granted licence is dropped from the media law, Bulgarian Prime Minister and leader of the Union of Democratic Forces (SDS) Ivan Kostov said on [29th September] after a meeting of the SDS supreme leadership.  President [Petar] Stoyanov cited the ban on advertising during prime time as one of his motives for vetoing the law. 
        Since the national television is to become a single-channel one, the total duration of programming will be considerably reduced, increasing the funds available.  This, coupled with rising advertisement revenues, will lead to a surplus of funds.  “We cannot allow this to happen since it will lead to a total lack of proprietary control,” Kostov said. 
        “By incorporating into the law a restriction on the time available for advertising, we wanted to make the media market more competitive,” SDS floor leader Ekaterina Mikhaylova said. 
        Representatives of the opposition Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) also commented on the presidential veto.  According to the deputy chairman of the parliamentary Culture and Media Committee, Ivo Atanasov, Stoyanov vetoed the law not as a result of his own decision but under pressure from Europe and the opposition. . . . 
        In connection with Stoyanov’s [on 28th September] statement that the opposition had not made his task easier by putting forward concrete recommendations, BSP and coalition spokesman Lyubomir Pantaleev said that Stoyanov will be provided with the verbatim transcripts of all plenary debates on the law and statements made by representatives of the opposition in the media. 
        The Euro-Left is prepared to participate in discussions on the law vetoed by Stoyanov; if the contentious parts of the law are again approved by the majority, however, it will petition the Constitutional Court and will inform the European observers, Euro-Left spokesman Rosen Karadimov said. 
        According to the Euro-Left, the reasons for banning advertising from prime time are groundless. 
        [The Bulgarian magazine ‘Sega’ wrote that the media law did not have to provide for television and radio programmes in the languages of Bulgaria’s ethnic groups, BTA news agency reported on 29th September.  According to the agency, the magazine said:  “Turks, Gypsies, Armenians and Jews have lived in Bulgaria for centuries and speak Bulgarian very well.”  “As for integration, it takes more than radio and television programmes,” the magazine article said.] 

BTA news agency, Sofia, September 29, 1998 

III.  President vetoes new media law. 

        Bulgarian President Petar Stoyanov will refer the newly enacted media law back to the MPs for further deliberation. 
        He is scheduled [on 30th September] to read out personally the decree containing his motives for doing so to the MPs, Stoyanov told journalists [on 28th September] after he initialled the decree. 
        Stoyanov has objections concerning four basic points. 
        The first one is the procedure for compiling the national board on television and radio.  In his view, a better way for ensuring the political neutrality of this body can be worked out. 
        The second point has to do with national media programming in the official language.  In Stoyanov’s view, the provision stating that programming on the national radio and television can be only in the official language will segregate the citizens with mother tongue other than the official language on territorial basis and will do nothing for their integration. 
        Stoyanov also objects to the provision regulating that television charges will be collected from everyone who has a electricity meter.  In his view, a way must be found to exclude the people that do not have a TV set from the overall number of meter owners and this can be done legislatively. 
        “I could not follow the logic that guided the MPs in approving the text banning advertising from prime time on national television,” Stoyanov said, formulating his fourth motive for back-referral of the law.  Too many doubts beset the public and the better way to go is for this text to be referred back for correction, Stoyanov said. 
        If any one of the incumbents is disconcerted over the back-referral of the law or the opposition snatches at the possibility to reap dividends from it, then the case will be one of misconstruing the democratic principles, Stoyanov said.  No majority can be perfect and that is why there are mechanisms prescribed by the constitution like the presidential veto and the Constitutional Court, that are meant as guarantees. . . . 
        “It was a good idea to veto the law in the wake of the harsh response it drew,” Prime Minister Ivan Kostov said in connection with the presidential veto.  “I expected this to happen,” Kostov said. 
        In his view, this will provide the lawmakers with the opportunity to improve the law via dialogue and consensus. 

BTA news agency, Sofia, September 28, 1998 

IV.  New media law sets TV advertising limits. 

        The Bulgarian National TV will not broadcast commercials during prime time until it receives a national licence as a commercial TV operator.  This will be enacted under the radio and TV bill that was passed on [23rd September]. 
        The chief of the Bulgarian parliament’s Culture and Media Committee, Stoyan Raychevski, said the licensing of the national private television will be ready in a few months.  The management of the Bulgarian National Television (BNT) has the idea of stopping broadcasting the Efir 2 programmes as of 1st January. . . . 
        The national radio and TV will reconsider the contracts they have for advertising and sponsorship and bring them in compliance with the new law.  A provision in the new law restricts to five minutes BNT advertising during prime time. 
        The total advertising time for BNT is set at 15 minutes per 24 hours and four minutes per hour.  The advertisements broadcast by the National Radio cannot last more than six minutes per hour. 
        The other public operators have six minutes per hour for advertising.  The advertisements broadcast by commercial radio and TV stations may not exceed 15 per cent of their programming hours and 12 minutes per hour. 
        The opposition opposed the passage of the law over the restrictions it introduces on prime-time advertising. . . .  In a declaration made public in parliament last week, the leader of the opposition Bulgarian Socialist Party, Georgi Purvanov, said that they would refer the case to the Constitutional Court unless the president vetoed the law. 

BTA news agency, Sofia, September 24, 1998 

        The chairman of the board of governors of Hungarian Radio [Peter Agardi] has firmly rejected parliamentary speeches and press statements made by some parliamentary deputies in the past three days.  He said that the statements about the programmes, management and internal life of Hungarian Radio were false, unchecked and harmful to the prestige of public service broadcasting. 
        Peter Agardi cited as an example of these statements that one of the deputies had recently called for financial sanctions and the forcing of personnel changes in the leadership of the limited company [Hungarian Radio Rt].  Such statements are a crude intervention in the life of a public trust [Hungarian Radio is financed and controlled by a public trust] and the limited company [linked to it] and they are also in clear breach of the media law, the statement of the chairman of the board of governors said. 

Hungarian Radio, Budapest, October 2, 1998 

II.  Hungarian TV bars communists’ election broadcasts. 

        Hungarian Television has refused to broadcast the election campaign broadcasts of the [non-parliamentary communist] Workers’ Party.  The refusal was communicated to the party in a letter signed by the TV management.  Leaders of Hungarian Television justified the decision by saying that the election broadcast was negative campaigning. 

Hungarian Radio, Budapest, October 1, 1998 

III.  Communists say Hungarian TV broke election law. 

        Gyula Thurmer, the chairman of the [communist] Workers’ Party, has said that the groundless refusal by the public television service to put out the party’s election campaign broadcasts is a crude violation of the election law.  The Workers’ Party has asked the National Election Committee for immediate legal redress.   Karoly Levai reports: 
[Levai]    Gyula Thurmer said that he could not understand this censorship measure and added that this step also indicated that Hungary was moving towards a civic dictatorship. 
        Responding to Viktor Orban’s statement in parliament, Thurmer said that the Workers’ Party did not want the dictatorship of the proletariat, but nor did it want a civic dictatorship, whereas events in the last few days suggested to the Workers’ Party that the country is moving towards the latter. 

Kossuth Radio, Budapest, October 1, 1998 

IV.  Liberals accuse government of media “control.” 

        The Alliance of Free Democrats [liberal opposition SZDSZ] has held a news conference on newspapers and the government’s media policy.  Monika Petres reports: 
[Petres]     According to the SZDSZ, the government has launched a comprehensive attack on regulating the press; it wants to subjugate the public service media and keeps issuing threats to the privately owned press, too.   This was said by Ivan Petoe, chairman of the parliament’s Cultural Committee, SZDSZ deputy. 
[Petoe]      The Hungarian Television board of governors has been unable to function because the government parties are unwilling to nominate board members.  We are talking about a deliberate policy; for, in a situation where the acting chairman of Hungarian TV is forced to ask the government for financial help, it is obvious that he must fall in line with government’s wishes if he is to get any help. 
[Petres]     Ivan Petoe said that the government’s dominance had grown not just in radio and TV news programmes; the opposition press could also expect adverse measures.  For example, [the] measure by [the state-owned] Postabank [on 30th September] to suspend subsidies to [the daily tabloid] ‘Kurir’ while continuing to pay subsidies to ‘Magyar Nemzet’ was motivated by politics, Ivan Petoe said.  ‘Kurir’ is an opposition paper, while ‘Magyar Nemzet’ is admittedly progovernment.  Ivan Petoe has learnt that ‘Kurir’ has so far built up a loss of 200m forints this year while ‘Magyar Nemzet’ owes 160m forints. 
        The SZDSZ considers it antidemocratic and unacceptable that while there is money in the kitty for the loss-making progovernment ‘Magyar Nemzet,’ the pro-opposition ‘Kurir’ has been suspended. 

Hungarian Radio, Budapest, October 1, 1998 

        Treasury Minister Emil Wasacz said in a radio interview [on the Warsaw commercial radio station Radio Plus] [on 27th October] that he would dissolve the public TV [TVP] supervisory council if he could.  Minister Wasacz of the AWS [right-wing Solidarity Electoral Action—senior partner in ruling coalition] added that a team of experts at the Treasury Ministry had started to analyse legal possibilities for such a step.   He said that if such a move proved to be possible, he would make use of this possibility. 
        The minister told journalists about the moves to dissolve the public TV supervisory council after the live radio interview this morning, which we reported earlier.  In that interview, Wasacz distanced himself from the possibility of putting Polish TV into liquidation, saying that there were no legal grounds for doing so. 
        At the same time, the minister—who also acts as the owner of public TV—stressed that he thought public TV news programmes were manipulated.  He cited as an example the edition of the News programme which had failed to report the privatization of Polish Telecommunications [TP SA], which was starting that day, but which broadcast instead a lengthy report on shrimp fishing in France.  Other accusations related to poor information on the privatization of the Industrial-Commercial Bank [BP-H] and the axing of the “Opinie” current affairs programme. 

Polish Radio 1, Warsaw, October 27, 1998 

II.  Newspaper leak on TVP’s “silent privatization.” 

        [The Warsaw daily] ‘Zycie’ has obtained a document of the Polish TV [TVP] management board which gives heads of programmes the freedom to choose between TVP employees and independent production firms.  In the opinion of TVP’s employees, this means the silent privatization of Woronicza [TVP headquarters in Warsaw] and the end of TVP’s public mission. 
        Instead of giving work to its own operators, sound engineers or montage people, TVP—according to its board—can commission “services in the city” from production firms, including companies close to the [opposition] SLD [Democratic Left Alliance], Woronicza staff say.  If these reports turn out to be true, then the desks and broadcasting aerials may be all that remains of the management board at TVP, Andrzej Kierylo of the AWS [ruling Solidarity Electoral Action] warns.  The head of [TVP] Channel One, Slawomir Zielinski, says, however, that public TV has to reform itself in order to compete with private stations. 

PAP news agency, Warsaw, October 13, 1998 

III.  Parliament official decries public TV failings. 

        The Polish Television [TVP] management is politicized, which makes it impossible for it to carry out its public mission, Deputy Jan Maria Jackowski of Solidarity Electoral Action [AWS], who chairs the Sejm [lower house of parliament] culture [and media] commission, thinks.  Speaking on Polish Radio, Deputy Jackowski expressed the view that the media in Poland are not pluralistic enough and do not reflect the actual opinions of a considerable section of society. 
[Jackowski]     I think we are primarily talking about public television here, which in the view of a section of society, discriminates against values like patriotism, like attachment to tradition, like—as I said—conservative or traditional views, which are, as the [recent local government] election results show, fairly strongly represented in Poland. . . . 
[Presenter]     In Jackowski’s opinion, the situation is somewhat better in Polish Radio, because a differentiation of opinions is maintained here.  Deputy Jackowski refused to answer a question why, according to an AWS proposal, not all members of the National Radio and TV Broadcasting Council [KRRiTV] would have to appear before the State Tribunal in connection with court findings that there had been irregularities in the allocation of licences.  Deputy Jackowski added that he would comment on that subject after he had read the motion which a group of deputies was still working on. 

Polish Radio 1, Warsaw, October 21, 1998 

        The Slovak government approved the legislation proposal that will change and amend the Law No 254/1991 on Slovak Television (STV) and No 255/1991 on Slovak Radio (SRo) at its first session in Bratislava on [31st October].  The government also approved the fast-track proceedings in the parliament regarding the proposal.  The proposed bill focuses on the adjustment of the status of STV and SRo councils in order to raise the public character of both institutions. 

TASR news agency, Bratislava, October 31, 1998 

II.  STV accuses radio-TV council of “unfair” sanctions. 

        “The board of STV (Slovak Television) thanks all of STV employees who guarantee the station’s operations at a high professional level and who have not succumbed to media provocation and the challenges of Jan Budaj, Peter Zajac and other incompetent and irresponsible persons asking for discipline to be broken,” reads the statement accepted by the STV board at [the 13th October] meeting in Bratislava, where the board evaluated the work of STV Director-General Igor Kubis and STV’s results for the third quarter of 1998. 
        According to the STV board, the sanctions imposed on STV by the Slovak Council for Radio and Television Broadcasting (RRTV) were inappropriate and politically unfair, due to the unlawful activities by other media, mostly [private] Markiza TV and [private] Radio Twist.  “The so-called licence council contributed to the prolonging of the media chaos in the pre-election period with its unprincipled assessment of licence conditions by the private media,” the statement reads. 

TASR news agency, Bratislava, October 13, 1998 

III.  Opposition objects to government control of STV. 

        The renewal of the public status of the Slovak Television (STV) will be one of the priorities of the future Slovak government, Peter Zajac, spokesman for the conservative-liberal faction of the Slovak Democratic Coalition (SDK), said [on 6th October]. 
        Zajac also called for new media laws, adding that it was “unacceptable for citizens to have to watch a television channel which, after each election, is controlled by a new party.” 
        The expected cabinet coalition of the SDK, the Democratic Left Party (SDL), the Party of Civic Understanding (SOP) and the Hungarian Coalition Party (SMK), which will have a three-fifths majority in the next parliament, wants to maintain STV as a public television channel, despite the fact that the former cabinet exploited it as its mouthpiece. 
        Zajac said that it was once again necessary to bring forward the subject of amendment to the law on STV, because the current STV Council was not “objective.” 
        He said that political parties, STV and civic movements should share a balanced participation in the council and that political parties must not have an absolute control over the channel as it happened in the past. 
        The SDK called on the council to adopt a clear stand on STV’s “scandalization of the election-winning opposition” and “public manipulation in favour of the Movement for Democratic Slovakia [of outgoing Prime Minister Vladimir Meciar].” 
        The SDK also proposed discussion of the dismissal of STV director Igor Kubis at the new parliament’s first session. 
        Zajac said that Kubis’s dismissal must be according to the law and if the dismissal was not proposed by the STV Council, there were other ways of doing this, for example, by passing an amendment to the law on STV or by dismissing the council, he said. 
        Zajac said that it was necessary for STV to have a management for programme-making and news reporting, which would guarantee its public character while its previously one-sided programmes were often reminiscent of aggressive propaganda.  The STV should also show “economic effectiveness,” he added. 
        Zajac concluded that the new government was preparing basic media laws as fundamental legal norms but that it would take some time to prepare this in cooperation with experts. 

CTK news agency, Prague, October 6, 1998