Hungarian Media Law Doomed
19 January 2011
By Tamás Bodoky
The widely criticised new Hungarian media law could affect my work badly, because it regulates both print and online media in the same restrictive way it regulates electronic mass media. As an investigative journalist working for print and online publications, my work is already subject of a wide variety of pressures and restrictions, starting with political and economic pressures on media companies publishing investigative reporting, excessive self-censorship due the business interests of media owners, the lack of courage and political precautions of public service media, and legal threats from people whose wrongdoings I highlight in my work.