BUDAPEST: Hungary's largest daily Nepszabadsag has filed a complaint with the constitutional court, urging it to strike down the country's disputed new media law, the newspaper said Thursday.
"The employees' association at Nepszabadsag has brought the controversial law before the constitutional court, as the regulations are damaging to the printed media," Nepszabadsag said on its website.
The complaint filed on Tuesday by the daily's editor-in-chief Karoly T. Voros and the president of the employees' association Karoly Kelen attacks 16 points of the new media law, which came into force on January 1 and has caused a furore in Europe.
Among other things, Nepszabadsag deplored "the vague definition of 'media products' (affected by the law), the purview of the new media authority and the illegality of the fines," imposed in cases of violations of the law.
"Together, these problems can exaggeratedly and uselessly impede the constitutional rights of freedom of the press and of expression," the newspaper added.
It also complained that the media authority, which is headed by a close ally of Prime Minister Viktor Orban, has the right to investigate "not only violations (of the media law) but also damages incurred by others."
This surely went against the rule of law as the authorities would then be able to launch a procedure against a media outlet even where it had acted legally, Nepszabadsag criticised.
The disputed law came into force just one day after it was published in the official gazette, giving too little time to adapt to the new regulations, again in violation of the constitution, Nepszabadsag also said.
Introduced just as Hungary took over the rotating six-month presidency of the European Union on January 1, the media law has been slammed by critics around Europe as an attempt by Orban's government to gain influence over the press.
On Monday however, Budapest agreed to amend the law following consultations with the European Commission, although this will not affect the make-up of the contested media authority, which was never faulted by Brussels.
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