“The world is a dangerous place to live in; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don’t do anything about it.”
(Albert Einstein – refugee from Nazi Germany)

Thursday, December 30, 2010

Proclamation for a media law to ensure basic constitutions and civil rights


Magyar változat - Hungarian version

To the President of the Republic of Hungary, the Speaker of the Parliament, the Government and the Citizens of Hungary


We, the undersigned, as producers and consumers of Hungarian media content, disagree with the spirit of the media law adopted on December 21, 2010 by the Hungarian Parliament In order to guarantee our basic constitutional and civil rights we demand that
  1. freedom of expression and dissent shall not be curtailed;
  2. professional trade associations and stake holders in the media shall be included in the process of media legislation;
  3. a non-partisan Media Council shall be elected, with the appointment of the Head of the Media Council for a maximum term of four years;
  4. the supervisory authority (Supervisory Board) shall include members delegated by the media profession;
  5. the threatening system of unfair penalties and fines shall be revised, and that any resolution of the Media Council shall be contestable in court, and that its enforceability prior to a final decision shall be rescinded;
  6. print and electronic media shall be exempt from the Media Law; that linear electronic media shall be independent, and that online, printed and audiovisual press as well as terrestrial broadcast and online media shall be differentiated; and
  7. the independence of the news outlets of different public media shall be maintained. (The transformation of the national news agency into an exclusive news provider jeopardizes editorial freedom and right to objective, true and impartial information, and eliminates the unique character of the existing public media).
We therefore demand that the Hungarian Parliament shall rescind the Media Law, as adopted on December 21, 2010, and shall similarly annul Chapter 2 (VIII/B) of the related Act CLXIII of 2010, and the Government of Hungary shall initiate a new media legislation with due consideration of each of the seven principles mentioned above.
It is strongly hoped that our demands will be honored prior to the promulgation of the act. Otherwise, our opinion will be voiced in subsequent actions.
27. 12. 2010.

We, individuals and legal persons, agree with the manifesto:



Please join the proclamation and disseminate this information among your friends and acquaintances!

The possibility of joining this proclamation has now been closed. We thank to everyone for the support we believe to have done everything in the interest of our cause that has been possible this way at all. (Amendment from 14 January 2011.)


Translation of the fields of the template:

Név, foglalkozás: (kötelező kitölteni) --- Name, occupation: (compulsory field)
Szervezet vagy város: (kötelező kitölteni) --- Organization or city: (compulsory field)
Biztonsági kód (a fenti szám /betűhalmaz) --- Safety code (the above set of numbers /letters)
Küld --- Send

Should you not be able to subscribe the proclamation in the above template, please send an e-mail expressing your intention to join and containing the same data to kialtvany@periszkopradio.hu .

The proclamation(1) has been issued by the open Facebook group Be[j,i]gliforradalom.(2) This group unifies some ten civil groups that likewise came to existence spontaneously on Facebook, and present a united front against the content and inwardness of the new Hungarian media law.

Obviously, numerous followers and subjects of the Fidesz-dictatorship have already subscribed the proclamation with some funny, fictive names. This fact should not keep back you from seriously joining; fictive subscribers are continuously being removed from the list by the organizers.

Although the media law has already been promulgated, campaigning for signatures will go on, with the understanding of an appropriate interpretation of its two last sentences.

A web page of the movement "One million people for a free press in Hungary" can be found at

http://szabadsajto.com/

The proclamation can be found here, as well, together with a broad scope of background information, among them a permanently updated review of the international press coverage of the new Hungarian law that can be reached directly at

____________________
Source:
(1) http://szabadsajto.com/manifesto/
(2) http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_117848871615693&ap=1

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