Hungary

[HU] National Radio and Television Board Submitted Report to Parliament

IRIS 1998-8:1/24

Gabriella Cseh

Budapest

On 31 August 1998, the Hungarian National Radio and Television Board (NRTB) submitted its 1997 Report to Parliament required by the Act I of 1996 on Radio and Television (Media Law). The 51-page Report consists of an introduction and the following five chapters: 1. Accomplishment of the dual media system according to the media act; 2. The economic condition of the establishment of the dual media system and the situation of the media market; 3. The technical condition of the formulation of the dual media system; 4. The institutional system of control; 5. The situation in the fields of communicational rights, freedom of opinion and balanced reporting. According to Paragraph 43 section 1 of the Media Law, the NRTB shall send a report to Parliament by March 1 of each year. Section 43 of the Media Law stipulates that the following shall be evaluated in particular in the report: a) the situation of the balanced state of the freedom of opinion and the provision of information, b) the development of the ownership situation of broadcasters and the daily newspapers, weeklies, newspaper, distributors and broadcast transferors connected thereto as defined in Chapter VIII of this Act, c) the situation of frequency management serving to satisfy the needs of broadcasting, d) the economic situation of broadcasting and the development of the financial conditions thereof. The NRTB shall initiate eventual amendments to the Act.