A deputy from the ruling Fidesz party on Tuesday outlined new proposals for right-to-reply aspects of the new media bill, saying that a passage in the bill on giving people the right to reply if they feel that their personal dignity has been offended will be scrapped.
Head of parliament’s cultural committee Simon L Laszlo said that a new amendment only requires corrections and a reply in the case of factually wrong statements. But the proposal sets up the demand that media organisations should publish corrections and replies within five days instead of the current eight days.
Simon said that regulations governing content would cover not only broadcast media but the printed press and news portals on the internet.
Simon underlined a provision in the bill which would require new media to register with the state but the new proposal excludes blogs from the requirement.
Another passage of the original bill on the obligation of the media to cover important events concerning the Hungarian nation – which has drawn strong criticism media interest groups – has been watered down. A new amendment suggests that individual media organisations will not be required to do this but such events should be current in the media as a whole.
Wonder how they are going to clearly define blogs and news media. If anything, this will just squeeze traditional media that will seek offshoots to their output in linked blogs (as in the WSJ, Economist etc…). Index pretty much already do this anyway.
Requiring new media to register with the state looks like another piece of needless bureaucracy, Still they have to start creating those 1,000,000 jobs somewhere and since they are going to have mothers taking 3 years off, why not expand government more.
There is no a country in developed Europe or North American that has such provisions. Hungary is lost …
@Vandor,
” Still they have to start creating those 1,000,000 jobs somewhere and since they are going to have mothers taking 3 years off, why not expand government more”
That was a cheap shot. Although I too am against 3 years of Mat leave…I’m sure that there could have been other examples you could have used.
@justasking: Fair enough. So far the have spent 700 million on Olypic preparation, 4 billion on religious schools, subsidised gas prices rather than encouraging thrift or tax breaks for insulation etc… given 900 million to do up one palaces ready for the EU jamboree and around 1 billion more for other historic buildings, spent shit loads on fireworks, spent shit loads on Schmitt’s inauguration party, massively weakened the forint, depressed shopping…. oh and a ton of other things, none of which make a blind bit of difference to improving anything of anyone’s real life.
Money squandered. Meanwhile extra layers of government have been invented to prop up fewer people at the top, incompetent people have taken all the top jobs and the wages of ambassadors and heads of the Universities and technical colleges are all earning around 3 million a month (mainly tax free).
Let’s just think how much the government has helped an average Hungarian. And those people who lost everything in the floods?
It was a cheap shot, you are right.
@Anonymous: Not true, unfortunately: “There is no a country in developed Europe or North American that has such provisions.” I’ve already detailed some previously.
the wages of ambassadors and heads of the Universities and technical colleges are all earning around 3 million a month (mainly tax free)
Vándorló at September 1, 2010 6:35 PM
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Yes, it was my surprise when I understood that employed people at Universities, and this includes even the student organizations, earn all tax-free
Their net income is higher than what they will (ever?) get taking a “real” job
It is really a “protected shop” were money/funding seem to be no real problem
For some reason, many of current younger politicians (“Jobbik” may be over-represented here) has a direct background from HÖÖK and similar student organization, where they really learned that Public Money is theirs to spend
@Vandor,
You realise the the only thing you achieved by drowning me with examples…was to reaffirm that not one party in Hungary actually listens to the people long enough to ‘know’ what they want?
Although I have to admit, I do agree with allocating x amount of dollars/year to the upkeep of Hungary’s Historical Buildings. Some have been neglected for so long, that it is costing 3 times the amount it would have initially if it were to have been kept up little by little in the first place.
Gas prices are subsidized in Hungary? What are the details?