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European Parliament group says Hungarian media laws needs more changes

January 21, 2013
Hungarian Media Monitor
Blog

Despite the changes that have been made since its adoption, the 2010 Hungarian media laws still have major flaws and need further amendment, according to a January 17 working document that was discussed in a January 21 meeting of the European Parliament’s Committee for Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) in Brussels.

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IMG wins another government tender

January 21, 2013
Hungarian Media Monitor
Blog

Budapest-based IMG, a company specializing in media buying and media planning, won its second major government tender in two months with a HUF 2 billion (nearly EUR 7 million) contract from the Media Authority (NMHH) to run the communications strategy for Hungary's digital switchover, Kreatív Online reports.

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MTVA chief discusses layoffs, censorship charges

January 17, 2013
Hungarian Media Monitor
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The top manager of Hungary’s public media discussed staff cuts and charges of state censorship in an interview in pro-government newspaper Heti Válasz.

István Böröcz, the CEO of the Media Services and Asset Management Fund (MTVA), said that staff restructuring would be completed by the fall of 2013. As many as 900 public media workers were laid off in two waves of firings, in the summer and autumn of 2011. The third wave of dismissals from Hungary’s public media, which began in December 2012, is expected to involve 195 workers, mostly production staff and workers aged 50 or older.

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Bayer’s anti-Roma rant draws fire

January 17, 2013
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An article by one of the Fidesz party founders, who wrote that Roma are “animals,” has stirred sharp condemnation from senior European Commission officials, human rights groups, and media associations in Europe and Hungary. In early January, conservative commentator Zsolt Bayer wrote an editorial in the pro-government newspaper Magyar Hírlap in which he claimed that “a significant part of the Roma are unfit for coexistence.”

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Trade union leaders are also on the public media layoff list

January 16, 2013
Hungarian Media Monitor
Blog

Ten trade union leaders are reportedly on the list of employees to be fired from the public media under the plans of the Media Services and Asset Management Fund (MTVA), which manages Hungary’s public media. András Lázár, the president of the Unified Media Trade Union criticized the plan, saying it is “far from the style of European negotiation.”

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