The International Press Institute (IPI) expressed disappointment over the decision of the Hungarian Parliament’s Justice Committee not to advance a bill that would have repealed criminal defamation and established safeguards against the abuse of civil defamation law.
Last month, IPI joined 29 other international press freedom and freedom of expression organisations in writing to the Committee’s chairman, Gyorgy Rubovsky, in support of the measure. The groups stated that the measure would promote “the right of Hungarian citizens to participate in public debate without fear of punishment”.
Read the article here.
The HCLU recaps the concerns about the Act CIV of 2010 on Freedom of the Press and on the Basic Rules Relating to Media Content
The Hungarian Parliament approved the draft bill on the so-called media-constitution, with the official title: Act CIV of 2010 on Freedom of the Press and on the Basic Rules Relating to Media Content, which was passed in November 2010 and entered into force on 1st January 2011.
You must be daring to quip about politicians in Hungary these days: journalists, bloggers and ordinary people have been brought to court for such deeds.
The Ministry of Human Resources might withdraw funding from the National Society of Student and Youth Journalists (DUE Médiahálózat), as the magazine interviewed experts on a topic that could affect every youth: the legalization of marihuana. The fact that a well-balanced, objective and unbiased article about a relevant drugs policy issue concerning many countries could not be published is a serious symptom of the state of the democratic discourse that with state funding.