[cr-india] Hungary alternative media fear radio silence

Fri Feb 7 00:19:02 CST 2014

Dear Ram and Vickram:

A media academic from University of West Hungary I met recently, Gabriella
Velics had the following perspective (only slightly dated) to offer on the
larger context of community media in Central and Eastern Europe and,
specifically, on the developments in Hungary. Quite instructive:

*"*The CM sector is a diverse sector that operates differently across the
EU. While the sector shows significant activity in some Member States, it
barely exists in others. The various degrees of CM activity across the EU,
to some extent, depend on different national and regional regulations as
well as on the historical circumstances of each Member State. The levels of
activity are also closely related to public awareness and legal recognition
of the sector. In general, CM require clear recognition and clear roles in
national media law as well as an increased awareness amongst regulatory
authorities regarding its nature and its needs - specifically with regards
to spectrum allocation, license fees, public interest, digital switch-over
and must carry rules. In the past two decades the CM sector has experienced
more support from governments in North-Western European countries than in
Central and East Europe. In many of the countries that today comprise the
so called new EU Member States, the sector has experienced a slightly
different history. Following the transition of most of these countries to
embrace democratic governance, many media laws were reformed in the mid
1990s. Hungary is amongst these countries.

 *An emblematic case: Hungary*
CM were legally recognised as such in Act I of the 1996 Law on Radio and
Television Broadcasting. Two main factors positively influenced that
recognition: In 1991 a moratorium was imposed on reviewing the media act
until fair procedures regarding the passing of new media regulation were
guaranteed. During these 6 years, some pirate radio initiatives joined
forces with parliamentary members to lobby for the recognition of the
sector. Additionally, the transition to democratic governance resulted in
general awareness regarding the importance of having a healthy civil
society sector. This helped the regulators to acknowledge the importance of
having a "third media" sector next to private media and public service
broadcasting.

Act I of the 1996 Law on Radio and Television Broadcasting recognised the
specificities of a "non profit broadcasting company", defined as a
"broadcaster who/which agrees to serve national, ethnic or other minority
goals, cultural aims or an underprivileged group, or intends to serve as
the public forum of a community". According to this Media Law, non-profit
broadcasting companies did not have to pay the broadcasting fees required
by private operators. The broadcasting authorities were required to issue
them an eight hour licence for minority of interest programs without
inviting for tender. Overall, non-profit broadcasting companies were also
given priority in licensing whenever 80% of the population of a given area
or region already had access to two commercial local broadcasting services.
The Hungarian model has been a good case study on how to use momentum and
join political forces to create awareness of CM in a Central European
Member State.

*A changing environment*
After the general election in the spring of 2010, life in Hungary changed
in a number of ways. Legislation and enactment have speed up and
non-governmental voices have had limited effectiveness during these
processes. A new era began for community broadcasting in Hungary as the
2010 law CLXXXV relating to Media Services and Mass media was passed on 22
December and came into force on 1 January 2011. On the one hand the sector
was satisfied with the fact that the community media service was again
codified in the media law, while on the other hand the definition
formulated by the Law is considered inappropriate and too loose.  The new
law doesn't contain the 'small community radio' category, and presents
almost impossible requirements for the volunteer-based radio stations such
as regular coverage of the news of a given social or local community,
providing cultural programmes, at least four-hour broadcasting time every
day, 66% public service content, 50% of the music played must be Hungarian,
etc. The advertising guidelines didn't change, so community media providers
can still  broadcast six minutes advertisement in one hour.

The biggest concern is caused by the idea of describing local commercial
radios such as public-programme providers and small community radios into
one category called 'linear community media service provider'. This new
category does not  include the small community radio stations, but also
makes it possible for local and regional commercial  broadcasters to apply
for registration as a linear community broadcaster, with access to
financial resources previously only intended for the community stations and
in addition no longer having to pay the broadcasting licence fee. A large
number of previously and newly formed local commercial radios have thus
applied for this status because of the available advantages.

The Media Authority registered 157 applications before the deadline, but
only about 70 came from real community broadcasters. By the end of December
2011 the majority of those stations which received new linear community
media service provider status were professional, local or regional
commercial- style or religious radio stations. Many of these stations are
directly or indirectly linked to political parties (often the  governing
political power), while some others openly exercise proselytism, putting in
danger the real nature and principles of community radio broadcasters,
inclusion, democratic ownership and access to all, as some examples.

A practice that might easily lead to the disappearance of genuine community
radio activity in the country. Moreover, the tender for the annual
financial support from the Media Authority came out at the end of January
2011 and very few community radio stations were granted this support. This
situation was replicated  in 2012

The emblematic case of Hungary, shows how the lack of clear definitions and
guidelines for community media can lead to confusion and a non genuine
pluralistic media landscape, which should be based on the presence of all,
public, commercial and community media broadcasters. In many countries of
Central and East Europe, the community media sector is completely
inexistent , while in some others restrictions and unclear regulations are
limiting its development.  Next to the lack of specific laws, there is also
a lack of underlying regulations regarding CM. The existence of transparent
processes and evaluation criteria to award and manage CM's access to radio
spectrum, for example, varies throughout the EU and while some Member
State's take directly CM into account in their regulatory framework (eg:
Slovenia), most media regulators in Central and East Europe have not yet
implemented processes to distinguish a CM service from a local commercial
media broadcaster.

There are several areas in which public policy can help CM to address key
issues which can either promote or impede their future development.
* The need for a clear legal recognition of CM in media law.
* The need for regulations pertaining to radio spectrum licensing and
digital switch-over that take account of CM.
* The need for an equitable public support to enable the sector to develop
the capacities needed to operate in a more continuous and sustainable model.

Legal recognition is an important requirement to many CM in the new EU
Member States. It provides certainty and protection to the sector and is
generally, but not always, accompanied by the necessary licensing
procedures and occasionally by financial support. Despite the social value
of the sector has been recently reaffirmed by the Declaration of the
Committee of Ministers on the role of community media in the promotion of
the social cohesion and the intercultural dialogue , adopted by the Council
of Europe on 11 February 2009, and the Resolution of 25 September 2008 of
the European Parliament on Community Media in Europe (2008/2011 (INI)) , so
far most Central and Eastern European CM organisations do not benefit from
any definition by law.*"*
best,
Vinod

On Fri, Feb 7, 2014 at 11:02 AM, Ram Bhat <ram at maraa.in> wrote:

> Hi Vickram,
> you're right. Its not especially surprising but still, it is disturbing,
> because for me its clear evidence of how a right wing govt with majority
> can easily make life very hard even for an establish CR sector.
> the fact that they have brought the number of CR stations down by just
> messing with definitions of CR and licensing procedure
> is telling.
> As far as I know, the situation in the U.S was a bit diff from the
> Hungarian situation. I agree that radio is generally subject to tighter
> controls than other media for various reasons. But the U.S situation had
> and has far more complexity than the Hungarian situation. Also the
> discourse in the U.S is shaped more by interference issues (with existing
> radio networks) than by fears around diversity of media. Corporate concerns
> have dominated, whereas in Hungary, the motivation to mess around with CR
> seems to be purely political, not market-oriented. I may be mistaken.
>
> Why is Hungary important on a cr-india list? Well, the parallels are not
> hard to see. We may well soon have a majority right-wing govt very soon.
> the sector here has been vulnerable to complex licensing processes and def.
> of CR is still quite unclear - with all kinds of agencies (govt agencies
> included) getting licenses. With FM-Phase III coming in and new terms of
> reference in the new WOLs it seems that, like the U.S and Canada, our CR
> sector too will start becoming vulnerable from a market perspective. If we
> don't learn from outside experiences, history will repeat itself. As Zizek
> has said, it will repeat first as tragedy and then as farce!
>
> best,
>
> ---
> Ram
>
>
> On Thu, Feb 6, 2014 at 8:46 AM, Vickram Crishna <v1clist at yahoo.co.uk>wrote:
>
>> I kept looking at the words 'Budapest', 'Hungary', 'euro' and so on,
>> wondering what they were doing in an article on the Indian community radio
>> scene.
>>
>> What exactly is 'disturbing' about the onslaught on the Hungarian
>> community radio scene? Isn't it pretty well following the pattern set a
>> decade ago in the US? No surprises here: the far right always has funding
>> for propaganda and subversion of independent media. No need to look very
>> far for parallels here, although radio (in contrast to all the other media
>> forms) is in general fenced around very tightly.
>>
>> Vickram
>> Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android<https://uk.overview.mail.yahoo.com/mobile/?.src=Android>
>>
>>  ------------------------------
>> * From: * Ram Bhat <ram at maraa.in>;
>> * To: * CR-India <cr-india at sarai.net>;
>> * Subject: * [cr-india] Hungary alternative media fear radio silence
>> * Sent: * Wed, Feb 5, 2014 12:13:10 PM
>>
>>   Dear All,
>>
>> An interesting article about some disturbing developments for community
>> radio in Hungary. There are quite a few links in the article for further
>> reading.
>>
>>
>> http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2014/02/hungary-alternative-media-fear-radio-silence-20142483619211978.html
>>
>> best,
>> ---
>> Ram
>>
>> Join the Community Radio Forum. For membership details, please go to
>> www.crforum.in
>>
>
>
> Join the Community Radio Forum. For membership details, please go to
> www.crforum.in
>

-- 
Dr. Vinod Pavarala
Professor of Communication &
UNESCO Chair on Community Media
Sarojini Naidu School of Arts & Communication
University of Hyderabad
Gachibowli, Hyderabad 500046
Phone: +91-40-23135501/23011553
http://www.commuoh.in/
http://www.uccommedia.in/
http://www.communityradioindia.org/
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