apologies for cross posting!  happy new year to all!  kate


*05 Jan 2012*

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*For immediate release*

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*The Center for Media and Communication Studies (CMCS) announces the
release of the study:*

*Hungarian Media Laws in Europe: An Assessment of the Consistency of
Hungary’s Media Laws with European Practices and Norms***





A new CMCS study led by researcher Amy Brouillette analyses the consistency
of the Hungarian media regulations with European practices and norms. It
addresses a key international policy debate regarding the conformity of
Hungary’s new media legislation to European and EU media-regulation
standards. The study also contributes to the ongoing policy making process
regarding Hungary’s media laws—particularly in light of the recent rulings
by Hungary’s Constitutional Court which requires several provisions to be
amended by 31 May 2012—as well as contributing to the debate around other
areas of concern that have been raised by the European Commission, European
lawmakers, and domestic and international stakeholders.



In December 2010 and January 2011, the Hungarian Government released two
statements summarising the main criticisms of its new laws and providing
examples of regulations from 20 European and EU-member states as precedents
for Hungary’s media legislation. For this study, the Center for Media and
Communication Studies (CMCS) commissioned media policy experts in each of
these 20 countries to examine every example cited by Hungary’s Government.
The findings of this report are based on the expert assessments of these
examples. The purpose of this study is to examine the accuracy of the
precedents cited by the Hungarian Government in order to shed light on the
more critical question of how consistent Hungary’s media laws are with
other media systems in Europe.



The study finds that Hungary’s media laws are largely inconsistent with the
cited European practices and norms, based on an examination of the legal
precedents provided and on the expert analyses of how these precedents are
implemented in these European and EU-member countries. In a majority of
examples, experts report that the Hungarian Government’s references omit or
inaccurately characterise relevant factors of the other countries’
regulatory systems, and as a result, the examples do not provide sufficient
and/or equivalent comparisons to Hungary’s media regulation system. In many
examples, the Hungarian Government accurately presents a portion of a legal
provision or regulation, however in these cases the reference either
excludes elements of how the regulation is implemented or the regulation
cited does not correspond with the scope and powers of Hungary’s media laws
or Media Authority. Overall, this study finds that the European media
regulations cited by the Hungarian Government do not serve as adequate
precedents for Hungary’s new media laws.



The study also reveals a wide disparity in media-regulation policies among
European and EU-member states and highlights some key deficiencies in a
number of other European systems that may inhibit press freedom in ways
that do not appear to conform to European free-press norms.



A copy of the report can be downloaded on the CMCS website at:
www.cmcs.ceu.hu.







The Center for Media and Communication Studies is a research center of
Central European University in Budapest dedicated to advancing media and
communication scholarship and policy and the democratic potential of the
media.