Radio Tilos is turning to the Constitutional Court in Defence of Free radioing
Press Release 25-02-05
In the morning of 23rd February, the court of second appeal approved the decision of the Hungarian National Broadcasting Authority (ORTT), requiring Radio Tilos to suspend broadcasting for 30 days, and issuing a written, so called �last warning� � unprecedented in the history of Hungarian broadcasting. Radio Tilos continues to follow a law-abiding practice, while still expressing its objection to the disproportionate size of the sanction: suspends its broadcast and turns to the national Constitutional Court with a petition.
From midnight, Friday 25th February, Rádió Tilos undertakes to suspend its broadcast for a remaining 25 days. In the first days of the political upheaval in 2004, the radio already decided to stay in sober silence for 5 days, but lodging the appeal postponed the decision�s legal effect, so there is 25 days left and from midnight 23rd March Tilos is back on air. But the �last warning� hanging in the air for a couple of years � is not a creatively and socially encouraging prospect.
Background
Tilos is a community radio, having started as a pirate radio back in 1991 (hence its name, Tilos meaning prohibited), it received full frequency for 7 years in 2002 March. Its members are volunteers, numbering around 200.
The court decision refers back to events over a year ago. On the night of 24th December 2003, a veteran punk broadcaster got into a drunk debate in which he uttered the sentence: Fuck, I would exterminate all Christians. His fellow broadcasters started apologising at once and tried the impossible: to withdraw the sentence somehow. This night is the traditional family celebration of Christmas in Hungary, leaving not too many listeners on this day for a local radio, however, the sentence couldn�t slip unnoticed. The next day the story started to spread through the internet from a right wing group, then TV channels picked up the story, and every possible medium started repeating the sentence on and on. The theme became � Tilos was the devil, it was inciting and all true Christians in Hungary were in danger effectively. And the connections to all kinds of races and nations as well as sources of funding got to be investigated with high journalistic shrewdness.
Tilos started apologising in all media, no use. The station managed to produce an unintentional media hack, and even those who never heard of Tilos, but mostly those who hasn�t had a chance to have a hands-on experience of it, (it having a small frequency) started to have a negative opinion of the radio.
How could it happen? After the last government change in 2002, the former government party set out to organise itself in ambiguous apolitical civil units, which served for concentrating local communities on certain issues, opinion networks. It became the net of civil circles � capable of mobilising hundreds of people � and if you multiply them: thousands. They had been definitely listening and trying for months, because there were several instances when there were complaints about the radio. (see the list below). But on Christmas Eve they managed to capture something that served their purpose well to inform a wider public about.
The difficult thing about the case is that the two sides are the two poles reflected in present Hungarian society. The case started to get visible in the streets when the events culminated in a demonstration on a Sunday afternoon, 10th January, 2004, in front of Kultiplex, the venue housing Tilos, where old ladies and younger nationalist groups were exclaiming political slogans, requiring the shutting down of the radio, and the firing of various politicians and institutions. At one point, a guy in a Hun hat drew out an Israeli flag, and the group set fire to it. What else is there to say about it? Maybe it�s worth mentioning that there was quite a long and twisted court case about the �fire-starters�, and man, if you could read Hungarian, you could get to know about such fantastic products as a psychedelic confectionary (that one of the guys was given by a mysterious old couple) and are we lucky to have enough famous specialist psychiatrists in one country. And oops, there is a downloadable 4-minute video that the Tilos crew shot at the demo to get a feel of the general situation.
The Effect
There was a numbstruck radio, trying to understand what was going on, trying to turn everywhere with proper explanations, but mostly found walls � institutionally. Many of its members also experienced personal problems at their workplaces � the members being volunteers, everyone works or studies somewhere parallelly. The radio �excommunicated� the unfortunate drunk broadcaster, on the other hand, some people were facing the fear of being fired from their normal work if they continued working at the radio.
But among all the negative vibe, our true supporters showed their respect and continued their support in their own special way. The contribution from listeners the radio is eligible for - through citizens� dedicated 1% of income tax to foundations - rose to amounts never received before. We are highly grateful for that. That could get us through the period when we weren�t eligible for application to the broadcasting authority�s fund for small community radios � as part of the penalty. And ironically, this was the only part of the punishment that was withdrawn as a result of a trial at the court of first appeal � AFTER the period in question was over. Ha ha.
Another special sign of discontent in Hungarian society with the treatment of Tilos was the reaction of writers from the Hungarian Association of Writers. As it was one of their officers holding a hateful speech in front of the Radio at the demo (not in the name of the Association, but as a political/�civil circle� figure), the next week a famous and outspoken Hungarian writer, Parti Nagy Lajos, announced his resignation from the Writers� Association in a reference to what was happening to Tilos. The following days half of the association members followed him� Is the court blind to society, and just listens to the whispers of politics? Well, well, hard to tell.
Tilos Rádio started to find alternative solutions to reduce the possibility of such utterances getting out in air: since then it reorganised its whole structure: introduced an editorial board responsible for selecting shows and broadcasters in general and monitoring the shows. However, the editorial practice remains that of small community radios with live shows: no previous censorship � of incoming calls either.
The Reasons of the Present Appeal
Radio Tilos considers it unfortunate that the Budapest City Court (as the court of second appeal) did not undertake the task to examine the proportionality of the penalty, only seemed to have inspected the mode of the imposition of the penalty. The court only investigated �how� the national Broadcasting Authority decided, not �why� it brought that decision � otherwise it would have concentrated on the content of the decision. That is why the radio sees no other choice than to turn to a forum which has proved several times during the last decades that it is not afraid to take a stand on questions related to the basic values promulgated in the Republic.
In the Hungarian media market it was Tilos that suffered the longest periods of silence so far: it survived the two years before gaining and after losing FM98.00 frequency, and while governments, broadcasting authority board members, politicians come and go, we have been present for one and a half decades. However, there hasn�t been such a case during these years when we had to exist with an �institutional warning� that jeopardizes our very being each and every minute, whose rules are vague and debatable. This is a situation reflecting the years of Communism: we are at the mercy of an authority, which admittedly does not have a unified and proportionate penalty system, but preserves the right for the imposition of a Last Warning to itself, to which � just to be clear � no simple player in Hungarian society has any right to say anything.
At the moment noone can tell what kind of malpractice may be enough to shut Tilos down completely. The fact that this and similar decisions are not up for debate and unquestionable does not only pose a threat to Tilos, but restricts the freedom of speech in the whole Hungarian media and of every Hungarian citizen.
So at this stage, the board of Tilos Rádió decided to turn to the Hungarian Constitutional Court, because the radio believes that the weight of the committed breach of law is not in proportion to the penalty, i.e., the Hungarian Broadcasting Authourity violated the constitutional postulate of proportionality.
Back in 25 days�
During the 25 days� silence, Budapest citizens will not have access to a number of special shows that are serving the community in their own kind of way: apart from Hungarian talkshows, special themed shows, there are shows in Chinese, Serbian, German, English, and shows dedicated to diverse musical styles from Indian, Arab and world music through jazz to the latest genres in electronic music � and even two hours of heavy metal and hardcore each week for those in need. During these days radios and venues who show sympathy for Tilos host special Tilos shows � where all are welcome. The radio also intends to upload its internet archive � in auspicious Hungarian - with worthy pieces.
Tilos Rádió
::compiled and translated by sanyi::
Some interesting dates
5 May 2003 some extracts were read out from Pushkin�s secret diary after 9 am � the radio received a serious fine
19 December � conversation about how the material of the wooden crosses set up by right wing volunteer groups at busy junctions could have been used more wisely
24 December � the source of the most repeated sentence in Hungarian media in 2004 probably
29 December complaint about rude words � no punishment
6 January 2004 complaint about rude words in the morning � the radio is fined again
10 January 2004 demonstration in front of the radio
14 January complaint about four letter words in the morning � no punishment
16 January complaint about rude words � radio fined
4 February 2004 sms was read out loud about the ex-prime minister, without much thinking. Broadcaster announced instantly that it was the content of the sms, not the opinion of the radio, as apology
29 March 2004 sex-related topic in a morning show � punishment
25 May 2004 it was not made clear at the broadcast of a charity announcement that it was a charity announcement, contrary to media laws - the radio was fined
16 October 2004 complaint about the language and contents of a show � no punishment
23 February 2005 court decision approved � Tilos needs to suspend broadcasting with a last warning |
