Hungary to Regulate All Media

Hungary will begin regulating all media directed at or published in Hungary from Saturday, including Internet news portals and web-based publications, under a controversial media law published Friday.
The law will require the news media to provide a "balanced view" in its coverage and allow people to initiate a probe at the media authority into coverage if they regard it as unbalanced. The state may impose fines for "unbalanced" or "offensive" reporting, and shut down media organizations.

All parliamentary opposition parties said after the law was published that they will submit an appeal to the country's Constitutional Court. Parliament, in which the governing Fidesz party has a two-third majority, passed the bill last week.
The new law will be introduced on the same day Hungary assumes the European Union's rotating presidency, and has drawn criticisms from other European Union members. Germany's deputy foreign minister Werner Hoyer said last week that the media law "does not represent the idea of a union that is built on unity in diversity."
Media lawyers have criticized the law for its unnecessarily broad scope and the power it gives the media authority. They have also noted that Hungary already has the legal means in place to protect personal privacy and fend off hate speech.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has refused to modify the law. Janos Martonyi, Hungary's foreign affairs minister, said Thursday that the harsh opinions regarding the law should only be expressed once concerns of abuse are proven accurate.
Under the new law, people who find that the media published something about them or in relation to them that was unfounded, distorted or untrue in any way, may request a correction. The correction must be published in unchanged form under a supplementing media law published in November.
The latter law also states that the freedom of the media may not go against public morality, though it doesn't define what public morality is. The media law also aims to control hate speech and protect the right to privacy as well as to protect minors.
Under the bill published Friday, the media authority may require any regulated media outlet to provide it with any data the authority might need to fulfill its duties, even if that data are classified and protected by law.
The law limits major television broadcasters' crime coverage to 20% of their overall news broadcast a year. It also says that they are to broadcast news of a set minimum length both in the mornings and in the afternoons. Set-program television channels must broadcast European programs on more than half of their programming, and Hungarian programs must account for one third of their broadcast, the law says.
The law requires all media directed at or published in Hungary to register with the country's media authority that was created earlier this year. The authority has the right to levy hefty fines on the media outlets if they violate the law or even to revoke their registration, as well as stopping them from publishing and broadcasting.