In future the appointment of the President of the National Media and Infocommunications Authority (NMHH) will be the responsibility of the President and not the Prime Minister, who will only have the power to nominate a candidate for the post. Amendments to the Media Act adopted by Parliament on Monday also stipulate that the President of the Media Authority and members of the Media Council may not be re-appointed after the expiry of their nine-year mandates.

The changes – submitted by Minister of Public Administration and Justice Tibor Navracsics after dialogue with the European Union and the Council of Europe – were adopted by the National Assembly yesterday. According to the amendments, before nominating a candidate for presidency of the media authority the Prime Minister will be required to seek opinions from the Board of Public Services, the National Council for Telecommunications and Informatics (NHIT), and national professional, advocacy and self-regulatory organizations representing infocommunications and media content providers, broadcasters and journalists. Such bodies must have been in operation for at least five years. After receiving recommendations, the Prime Minister shall decide on the nominee, with the subsequent right to appoint such a candidate being vested in the head of state.

The justification for the change is that constitutionally the politically neutral status of the President will thus give clearer expression to the independence of the NMHH President. The motion also mentioned that another guarantee of independence is the fact that the President of the NMHH and the Chairperson and members of the Media Council may not be re-elected or re-appointed after the expiry of their terms of office.

In future the eligibility criteria shall be different for nomination as President of the NMHH or as the Chairperson or a member of the Media Council. A candidate must either: hold a higher education qualification in the field of law, social science or economics and have at least five years experience either at the infocommunications regulator or in the public supervision of media services and press products; or hold a recognized academic degree in the field of media studies and have at least ten years teaching experience in that field. These provisions shall apply to future candidates for these posts, but do not apply to existing mandates.

While until now the Media Constitution has required television and radio stations providing information to ensure that reporting of specific events in their news programmes is diverse, factual, timely, objective and balanced, the amendments now adopted only include the requirement related to balance.

(Ministry of Public Administration and Justice)