Hungary's Tisza party submits bill to overhaul public media

Hungary's ruling Tisza party submitted legislation on Friday to overhaul public media, which critics at home and abroad say became a government mouthpiece under former right-wing leader Viktor Orban.

Public media reform was a key pledge by Prime Minister Peter Magyar's Tisza party, which ousted Orban in an April election landslide. A constitutional majority will enable Tisza to roll back Orban's reforms critics say have harmed democracy.

Following are key details from the legislation:

• The main goal of the overhaul is to restore independent, transparent and accountable public-service broadcasting.
• The bill would restructure MTVA, a holding currently operating public media, splitting it into a company in charge of radio and television broadcasting and reinstate a MTI as a standalone national news agency.
• The bill establishes the Independent Public Media Committee in charge of protecting the independence of public media, overseeing its operations and finances and taking part in the selection of its leadership.
• The Committee would be run on a parity basis, with equal representation for the government and the opposition as well as independent media sector representatives.
• A Public Media Council would monitor the principles of public service based on a Public Service Charter.
• The bill would also reform the Media Council, a body of the National Media and Infocommunications Authority, to ensure its makeup is more balanced and decisions are more transparent, while introducing stricter rules on conflict of interest.
• The reforms would terminate the mandates of current public media leaders, putting Culture Minister Zoltan Tarr in charge of public media for an interim period, while new public media leaders are chosen in an open application process.