Good news bill 'is bad news'

2008-07-08 20:14

Mark Heinrich

Bucharest - Europe's leading human rights watchdog urged Romania's president on Tuesday to veto draft legislation that would require radio and television stations to air more "happy" news.

Under a bill which still needed the approval of President Traian Basescu, broadcasters would have to give equal time to "positive" and "negative" issues in their newscasts. The bill's sponsors said too much gloomy news was making people ill.

"Prescribing, or even defining good versus bad news, is a severe political intrusion into editorial freedom," Miklos Haraszti, media freedoms monitor for the 56-nation Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

"(This) is fully out of touch with the rights of the audiences as well," he said in a statement issued from OSCE headquarters in Vienna.

"I do not see how ordering editors to carry 50% good news could 'help improve the general climate and give people a balanced view of everyday life', as argued by the sponsors of the amendment," he added.

The bill, initiated by a deputy from the ruling Liberal Party and a member of the opposition far-right Greater Romania Party, was approved unanimously by the Romanian Senate.

Romania's state broadcast regulator CNA has also urged Basescu to veto the bill.

The former Communist state, which joined the European Union last year, is plagued by widespread poverty and corruption.

- Reuters