BRATISLAVA, March 26, (WEBNOVINY) – Changes to the Press Act are correct, in line with the EU legislation and for the benefit of the people, stated Culture Minister Daniel Krajcer on air of the public-service Slovak Radio, in a political debate program Saturday’s Dialogues on Saturday noon. He continued by saying that with the approval of the revision to the Press Act, public officials stop being a so-called protected species, meaning they will lose the right to reply, if the statements are true and concern execution of their competencies. Chairman of the opposition SNS deputy faction and head of the Parliamentary Culture and Media Committee Rafael Rafaj disagrees with the culture minister. According to him, the current changes to the Press Act make journalists a protected species.
On March 23, parliamentary deputies advanced a revision to the Press Act to the second reading. In line with new rules, all public functionaries, chairpersons and deputy chairs of political parties as well as political parties will lose the right to reply if the published critical statements are related to the execution of their competencies. The right to reply, however, is preserved for public officials if they apply it as private individuals, in compliance with the Constitution of the Slovak Republic. The right to reply will be limited to untrue, incomplete or truth distorting statements. The applicable law enables reaction even to true statements.
Minister Krajcer argued that journalists are here also to watch over politicians. He stressed that no better system has been invented thus far. The minister also pointed out that the media uncover most scandals. Rafaj does not consider the draft to be balanced, as it does not allow a concurrent right to respond and correct the same information. According to Rafaj, the two rights are different. “This law is basically a privileged law for the benefit of media owners and publishers,” he said.
They both agreed on the need to prepare a new, quality press act. The current amendment is focused only on the worst shortcomings of the law adopted in 2008 by the government of Robert Fico, Krajcer pointed out.
The discussion participants also differed in opinions on the citizenship act. The citizenship act is a bad legacy after Fico and Orban, Krajcer commented, promising that the coalition parties would find a solution. He opines that by the fall it will be clear whether Hungary will amend its Constitution and grant active voting right to ethnic Hungarians living outside the country, too. In such case, it will be important to adopt a tougher legislative countermeasure, Krajcer stated. He is sure that the MOST-HID party, which represents interests of the Hungarian ethnic minority in Slovakia, would support it, too. According to Rafaj, the problem of the ruling coalition is that it needs the support of a coalition partner “who represents Budapest’s interests in Slovakia”.
SITA