Good news bill 'is bad news'
2008-07-08 20:14
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.