Slovakia's new Press Act curbs editorial freedom, grants politicians unlimited right of reply, warns OSCE media freedom representative

VIENNA, 10 April 2008 - Miklos Haraszti, the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, said today that he regretted the Slovak Parliament's decision to adopt a controversial Press Act that goes against the country's international commitments.

"I deeply regret the situation that the new Press Act will create for the Slovak media. While the abolishment of chapter 6.1 on content restrictions was a welcome development last month, yesterday's vote offers politicians undue influence over the opinion content of all newspapers," he said.

The Representative's comments followed yesterday's vote in the Slovak Parliament, where the governing coalition approved the law in the face of unanimous protest from the opposition parties, the strong resistance of the Slovak media, and the previous recommendations issued by Haraszti's office and other international organizations.

"The vote means that starting in June, anyone will be able to reply - even in an untrue manner - to any opinion piece, even if it contained nothing untrue. The editors will be obliged to print the reply without having the option to respond in turn, or they will face financial retribution," said Haraszti.

"It is not difficult to imagine where this will lead - newspapers getting flooded with replies from individuals or political forces unable to accept criticism, even when the criticism is well founded."

He added: "Just the fact that the law exists is already a serious limitation on editorial freedom, because it will make it mandatory to publish unsolicited material. Moreover, each time the law is applied, it will represent an actual restriction of editorial freedom, potentially making the country liable under the case law of the European Court of Human Rights."

"Instead of handling the right to correction or reply in compliance with the standards, Slovakia is forcing its media to become subject to political give and take. This goes against the country's international commitments to protect the freedom of its media" said Haraszti.

The legal review of the Slovak draft Press Act, as well as the earlier press releases on this issue can be found at osce.org/fom