Hungary's government has proposed a new media law that puts the country's relatively new press freedom under threat.
Legislation before the Hungarian parliament would, say critics, return the former Soviet satellite to the days of totalitarian repression.
Among the most controversial plans is a government-backed "media council" to supervise national broadcasters and the Hungarian news agency MTI.
One of the most vocal politicians opposed to the law, proposed by the ruling conservative-led government, is Ildiko Lendvai, who heads the opposition Hungarian Socialist Party. "The purpose of this law is to change the public media into the party media," she said.
Voting on one part of the legislative package - relating to print media content and the internet - has been postponed until the autumn, but the government is forging ahead with the section that deals with public broadcasting regulation.
The International Press Institute points out that under the new law, officials would have an automatic right of response to reports they do not like.
IPI's director, David Dadge, said: "We are concerned at what appears to be a fast-track legislative effort, on the part of Hungary's ruling party, to pass media legislation that would provide the government with powerful influence over the country's public broadcasters and its national news agency.
"We urge the government to withdraw all of the proposed legislation and to open it up to broad discussion. Any media reform must preserve the independence of the media."
And Dunja Mijatovic, the OSCE representative on freedom of the media, has also appealed to the Hungarian government to halt the legislation.
In a letter to the foreign minister, she noted that the "proposed laws... could lead to all broadcasting being subordinated to political decisions."
Sources: Deutsche Welle/IPI
