Op-Ed in Euronews Authored by MJRC’s Dragomir Explains What EMFA Needs to Have Impact on Media Capture
In a recent op-ed in Euronews, titled “Hungarian case shows the EU needs a bulletproof media freedom law”, MJRC director Marius Dragomir discusses the applications and potential impact of the new media freedom law (EMFA) in captured media environments.
Dragomir highlights the positive aspects of EMFA namely its inflexible nature that is likely to prevent national lawmakers from “tweaking or twisting it” to their liking. Furthermore, the law will enforce ownership disclosure as well as introduce new rules on governmental financial allocations to media outlets.
Still, Dragomir argues that the new EMFA will prove to be inefficient in already captured media environments, as it lacks mechanisms for control of “the engine of capture”, namely a system of financial corruption used efficiently by the government to control media outlets’ outputs and allegiances.
The full op-ed is available here.
Photo by AP Photo/Euronews, A woman kisses a Hungarian activist during a demonstration against the government’s new media law in Budapest, January 2011
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