no MMA!

He who swaps his homeland, swaps his soul, they say in Hungary. Still, in the last two and a half years, more than half a million Hungarians have left the country and spread throughout the world. That is twice as many as those who left after the Hungarian Uprising was put down in 1956 – a lot of people for a country with just 10m inhabitants.

I too have decided to stop putting up with it. There are plenty of reasons: money, future prospects, above all the feeling of being muzzled in today’s Hungary.

I belong to a generation that after 1990 was young enough to be able to feel something: that the atmosphere of the years of childhood and school had changed. If you have ever experienced the freedom to have an opinion, to express it openly, then it’s not a habit you can give up that easily. Life in Hungary was never rosy, or easy; it is not a country with just 50 years of history.

presseurope

The snow that first blanketed western Europe eventually reached Hungary by March 15, the day of an important national holiday. Heavy snowfall left thousands stranded on the roads of this eastern European country, and the Hungarian government received harsh criticism for not being able to handle the situation (even though before the winter’s coldest period started, it entertained citizens by nominating the director of the National Directorate General for Disaster Management as the government’s “Commissioner of Winter Preparations” [hu]). The events planned for the March 15 national holiday, among them regular celebrations as well as anti- and pro-government rallies, were postponed for a few days.

The anti-government protests were ignited by the adoption of the Fourth Amendment to the Hungarian Constitution, which was passed on March 11 and approved with the President’s signature on March 25 [hu]. Many people in Hungary fear that the activities of the current right-wing government are wresting the country from the democratic environment it first entered after 1989 (re-confirming its position in 2004 with the accession to the European Union).

globalvoicesonline

According to information posted on its website, the Media Council has considered 27 complaints of unbalanced reporting to date, more than half of which were brought by Hungary’s far-right Jobbik party. The Media Council has upheld 13 of Jobbik’s 16 complaints against broadcasters for not including the party’s perspectives or comments in their coverage of certain events. The Media Council has dismissed all complaints of unbalanced coverage brought by other groups or individuals, including all four complaints brought against broadcasters for alleged anti-Roma coverage, and complaints brought against Hungary’s public broadcaster for airbrushing out the face of a Constitutional Court judge in a newscast.

The “balanced” reporting provision is one of the most controversial features of Hungary’s 2010 media laws. The obligation, which was originally required for all media—including print and online press—was narrowed to broadcasters (both public and private) following negotiations with the European Commission in March 2011. Hungarian lawmakers will revise this provision again in accordance with the most recent round of negotiations with the Council of Europe. However, media expert Gábor Polyák says that the amended version will likely have little impact on its implementation.

mediamonitor.ceu.hu