Leaders from across the political spectrum have denounced Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s nominee for president of Hungary’s Media Authority as a loyal puppet controlled by the ruling Fidesz party and its inner circle of media and business oligarchs. Orbán on Wednesday nominated right-wing media lawyer Monika Karas to serve as successor of recently deceased Annamária Szalai as […]
Archive of posts tagged Media Council
Media Council issues first fine on a print daily
By Judit Barta Hungary’s Media Council on May 8 handed down its first sanction against a print and online publication with a HUF 250,000 (EUR 862) fine for hate speech against right-wing daily Magyar Hírlap for publishing Zsolt Bayer’s January 5 opinion piece, in which he called Roma “animals” who “shouldn’t be allowed to exist.”
Media Council put in charge of selecting winner of state’s top journalism award
In order to avoid repeating mistakes made during this year’s nomination for the recipient of the state’s top journalism prize, the Media Council will be responsible for selecting the winner of the Táncsics Prize in the future, according to a March 21 statement by Human Resources Minister Zoltán Balog. The announcement followed a week of controversy […]
Klubrádió wins frequency fight
The Media Council has named Klubrádió the winner of the 95.3 MHz frequency, following a lengthy legal battle with the opposition radio station. The Council’s decision comes after a series of successful court verdicts for the broadcaster, including a March 5 ruling by a Budapest court, which found that the Media Council’s decision to invalidate Klubrádió’s tender bid was unlawful and its […]
Media Council warns national TV station for describing Jobbik as ‘far right’ party
Hungary’s Media Council has issued a warning to national private broadcaster ATV for describing Jobbik as a “far-right” party in a November newscast. Jobbik is Hungary’s third-largest party and espouses a far-right nationalist platform. ATV was reporting on a demonstration against a Jobbik MP who called for making lists of Jews in Hungary because he […]
Court rules Media Council’s Klubrádió tender decision unlawful
Opposition radio station Klubrádió has won another court victory against Hungary’s media regulator when a Budapest court ruled on March 5 that the Media Council’s decision invalidating the station’s tender application was unlawful. The decision is one of a series of successful court verdicts for Klubrádió, in what has become a lengthy battle by the station […]
Jobbik wins complaint of unbalanced reporting against ATV
A court on February 18 upheld a complaint of unbalanced reporting brought by Hungary’s far-right Jobbik party against national commercial broadcaster ATV. The Media Council originally ruled that an August 2012 newscast by ATV was unbalanced because it did not allow Jobbik to respond to criticism of the party expressed by the head of Hungary’s […]
Court: Media Council must reveal contracts with top TV stations
An appeals court has upheld a prior court decision mandating that the Media Council must disclose the terms of its contracts with Hungary’s two largest commercial TV stations, RTL Klub and TV2. Gabor Csuday, an editor at Kreativ magazine, and the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union (TASZ) filed the case against the Media Council after the Council […]
Media Council gives Jazzy Radio five-year extension
The Media Council has extended Jazzy Radio’s Budapest license for five years, allowing the station to continue operating on its 90.8 MHz frequency until October 2018. The 2010 Media Act allows authorities to grant one-time, five-year license renewals to broadcasters if the operator has paid its license fees and has not repeatedly breached the media […]
Hungarian NGOs to Council of Europe: More Changes Needed to Media Laws
A group of leading Hungarian NGOs have asked the Council of Europe to continue negotiating with the Hungarian Government to make changes to the 2010 media laws. Council of Europe officials and the Hungarian government agreed in late January to introduce several changes to Hungary’s 2010 media legislation that include limiting the term lengths of […]
Media Council issues HUF 25.5 million in fines to TV2
The Media Council has fined national commercial TV station TV2 a total of HUF 23 million (EUR 78,800) for three content-related violations and an additional HUF 2.5 million fine for a violation related to advertising. TV2 was fined HUF 12.5 million (EUR 42,000) for its program, “Mokka,” which asked the audience to vote on the […]
Media Council investigates public TV station on charge of violating content regulations for minors
The Media Council has launched a public proceeding against public TV station M1 to determine whether it violated rules protecting minors from viewing violent or sexually explicit content, HVG reports. According to the Media Council, the station’s Camelot program contains sexually explicit and violent material that warrants a stricter “over 16 year old” rating, which […]
Council of Europe and Hungarian Government agree on changes to media laws
Following months of negotiations with the Council of Europe, Hungarian lawmakers are expected to introduce a set of amendments to the media laws that include changes to the appointment system and term lengths of members of the Media Council, the rules on source protection, and balanced reporting requirements for broadcasters, according to an announcement by […]
