His Excellency, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán
Prime Minister of the Hungarian Republic
Budapest, Hungary

13th December, 2010

Your Excellency,

We are writing to you on behalf of the European Newspaper Publishers’Association (ENPA), and the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA), to express our concern at a draft law that could expose journalists and publishers to extensive fines should they refuse to disclose their sources, or for publishing content that is judged inappropriate by the state regulatory body, NMHH’s Médiatanács (Media Council of the Hungarian Media Regulatory Office).

The law, if passed, would enable Médiatanács to impose fines on newspaper editors and their publishers who are convicted in libel cases. Furthermore, it can suspend or cancel the license of a media service provider in cases of repeated infringements.

We fear that the law could be misused and could inflict financial damage on newspapers based on subjective approaches to individual issues.

In addition, we are deeply concerned that this law poses a serious threat to freedom of the press and would, in particular, have a significant negative impact on investigative journalism. The right to confidentiality, protected by laws in many nations and international conventions, recognises that without a strong guarantee of anonymity, many people would be deterred from coming forward and sharing information of public interests with journalists.

We respectfully remind you that Hungary has a world-wide reputation for liberty and for freedom of press, as seen particularly during the 1848 and 1956 revolutions and in the recent decades leading to its entrance into the European Union. On behalf of our press organisations, we would therefore call on you to urgently revise the current package of draft legislation to ensure Hungary maintains this reputation and the draft law serves its proper function of enhancing Hungarian democracy.

We respectfully call on you to ensure that these concerns are adequately addressed, and ask you to assess the effects of the proposed draft law on the fundamental freedoms in Hungarian society.

Thank you for considering our concerns.

Yours sincerely,

Ivar Rusdal
President of the European Newspaper Publishers Association (ENPA)

Gavin O'Reilly
President of the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA)