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HUNGARY
I.
Pro-government bias on Hungarian radio criticized.
Five members of the
board of the Hungarian Radio Public Trust have objected
to the fact that over the past few months, government
party politicians were given far too much airtime in news
and magazine programmes. Csilla Kegyes reports on a
press briefing, which has just ended:
[Reporter]
Five
presidium members of the board of the Hungarian Radio
Public Trust are of the view that since last autumn,
balanced and impartial broadcasting has significantly
deteriorated in the public service radio’s news,
“Chronicle” [main news bulletins], and regular
magazine programmes. Three presidium members from
the [opposition] Alliance of Free Democrats [SZDSZ] and
two members from the [opposition] Hungarian Socialist
Party [HSP], including the chairman of the presidium,
Peter Agardi, have referred to a survey conducted by the
National Radio and Television Authority [ORTT].
According to this
survey, last November the government side was given 82
per cent of the airtime in Hungarian Radio’s
“Chronicle” and other news programmes, while
the opposition, including the HSP, the SZDSZ and even
MIEP [Hungarian Justice and Life Party, far-right party
mostly supporting the government], accounted for only 18
per cent.
The five
presidium members have prepared a draft resolution for
the [25th January] meeting of the body, which has been
enlarged to 16 members from January, but neither the
government party nor the other members [representing
former parliamentary parties] approved the document.
The draft
resolution says that the Hungarian radio violates its
duty to present views in an unbiased way. The
document also says that the presidium asks the chairman
of Hungarian Radio to take immediate measures to
implement the media law and the principles of public
service broadcasting in its news, “Chronicle”
and magazine programmes.
The five
presidium members denied that they had attacked the
radio’s management or initiated disciplinary
procedures against them, as [the 27th January daily]
‘Nepszava’ reported. They said they would
rather like to help the radio establish an impartial and
balanced information service.
Hungarian Radio,
Budapest, January 27, 1999
II. Ministry
plans cultural TV channel.
The Hungarian
Ministry of National Cultural Heritage has announced
plans for a cultural TV channel, the Hungarian news
agency MTI reported on 6th January.
The agency said
the ministry would initiate talks with Hungary’s
three public-service television stations on launching
such a channel. Minister Jozsef Hamori told a news
conference in Budapest on the 6th that television should,
among other things, serve the interests of culture.
MTI news agency,
Budapest, January 6, 1999
III. Radio
cannot afford costs of expanded board.
Peter Agardi, the
chairman of the Hungarian Radio [Public Foundation] board
of trustees, has said that the board must appeal to
parliament because it does not have sufficient funding to
operate an enlarged presidium of the board of trustees
[elected by parliament on 28th December].
Peter Agardi told
our news desk that, according to preliminary estimates,
the costs of each presidium member, including pay,
expenses, taxes and the social security contributions
levied on these costs, amounts to about 4.5m forints [one
dollar is about 220 forints]. On this basis,
Hungarian Radio cannot meet the financial conditions for
the operation of the enlarged body.
Kossuth Radio,
Budapest, December 29, 1998
IV.
Parliament appoints new media boards.
Parliament on
[28th December] elected six new members each to the
boards governing the state radio, Duna Television and the
Hungarian news agency (MTI). The re-election of the
governing board of the Hungarian state television MTV1
and MTV2, dissolved in autumn, was not on the agenda.
Under the media
act, the composition of the boards must reflect the
redistribution of power between the government and the
opposition, after the general election of last May,
through electing additional members into them, which must
have equal number of delegates from both sides.
Before the
general elections, the boards comprised 10 members each,
with the then governing Hungarian Socialist Party (HSP)
and the Alliance of Free Democrats (AFD) delegating five
members, and the opposition parties sending five.
Of the six new
members elected into each of the three boards now, the
Hungarian Justice and Life Party (HJLP), which made its
way into parliament for the first time this year,
delegated one.
As the governing
Fidesz-Smallholders-Democratic Forum coalition considers
the delegates of the Christian Democratic People’s
Party and the Hungarian Democratic People’s Party,
now not in parliament, and the HJLP delegate as
opposition, the coalition could, therefore, name five new
members.
According to the
HSP and the AFD, with 11 delegates, right-wing parties
now enjoy a two-thirds majority in the 16-member boards,
allowing them, for example, to oust sitting presidents of
the state radio and television.
MTI news agency,
Budapest, December 28, 1998
V.
Opposition plans court action over media boards.
The [opposition]
Alliance of Free Democrats [SZDSZ] will appeal to the
Constitutional Court against the enlargement of media
boards of trustees. [This afternoon the two
opposition parties walked out of parliament in protest
against the decision they considered unconstitutional.]
SZDSZ deputy Ivan
Petoe, who is also deputy chairman of the parliamentary
cultural committee, described [the] vote on [28th
December] as a political move to allow the ruling parties
to create a two-thirds right-wing majority in major
institutions such as Hungarian Radio, Duna Television and
the Hungarian news agency MTI. . . .
The [opposition]
Hungarian Socialist Party [HSP] also regards [the]
developments as a serious violation of the law on radio
and television broadcasting. The party is also
considering the withdrawal of its members from these
bodies. HSP deputy floor group leader Ildiko
Lendvai also objected to the fact that parliament had
failed to elect the presidium of the board of trustees of
Hungarian Television. [The previous board had
resigned earlier because parliament had not brought its
composition into line with the new situation in
parliament after the May elections.]
Hungarian Radio,
Budapest, December 28, 1998
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