Slovak media attacks Bill it says will curtail freedom

SLOVAKIA:SLOVAKIA'S MAIN newspapers devoted yesterday's front pages to a scathing attack on a proposed new media law they say will drastically reduce freedom of speech.

Six national dailies were emblazoned with the headline "The Seven Sins of the Media Law" followed by a list of the perceived failings of a Bill that has been condemned by international media groups and the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).

"Do you want your favourite newspaper to be made by somebody other than reporters?" the newspapers asked readers. "That's what the new press law by the ruling coalition aims to do."

The law would oblige editors to publish replies from people criticised in articles - even if all the information is correct - and would not allow newspapers to respond to those replies.

"There is a serious risk for newspapers that their content will not be decided by newsrooms, but by politicians and their press departments demanding the right of reply after every critical sentence," wrote Dag Danis, chief columnist at leading broadsheet Pravda.

The Bill is championed by populist prime minister Robert Fico, who has responded to strong criticism in the press by accusing journalists of being biased towards opposition parties who deride his welfare reforms and his tolerance of a far-right party in government.

While Mr Fico claims the law "guarantees plurality of opinion and objective information", Miklos Haraszti, the media freedom representative of OSCE, said it would "grant politicians limitless access to publicity over the heads of editors".

"They would seriously restrict editorial autonomy and go against the Council of Europe's legal requirements," he said.

Mr Fico's coalition is five votes short of a parliamentary majority, and opposition parties have threatened to block Slovakia's ratification of the Lisbon Treaty until the media Bill is changed.