Southeast Europe

decide to continue their studies in Hungary. The Hungarian government annually
sponsors a number of students for doctoral programmes in Hungary. Few of them return
to their home country.
7. COMMUNICATION AND AUDIOVISUAL MEDIA
7.1 Legal situation
The National Audio-Visual Council oversees the media in Romania. A body comprised
of eleven members came into being with the Audio-Visual Law on May 19, 1992. The
government was criticised at the time because all eleven members of the council were
ethnic Romanians. Complaints were justified as minorities comprise approximately 10%
of the total population of the country, and they should be entitled to have a
representative on the Audio-Visual Council (Helsinki Watch, 1993:51).
Later, an ethnic Hungarian became a member of the National Audio-Visual Council.
This Council plays an important role in issuing licenses to TV or radio stations, some of
them broadcasting in the language of the ethnic minorities. Another important aspect
concerned the regulations of the electoral campaign on radio and TV. In September
2000, the regulations were changed to improve ethnic minorities’ access to this type of
media, and other changes on language usage and the use of different symbols (Balló,
2000).
7.2 Press
There is no specific legislation concerning the press. There were discussions in
parliament about the necessity of a press law, “but the majority of the journalists and
others said that an adequate civil code should be a proper legal framework for a wellfunctioning
written media” (Balló, 2000).
There are currently a large number of Hungarian-language publications (see addresses),
many on a daily or weekly basis. Most of these are privately run and financed
(Government of Romania, Council for National Minorities, 1994:85). It should be
mentioned that there are two national and seven regional or local daily Hungarian
newspapers in Romania (Balló, 2000).
The importance of the Hungarian-language media depends on the part of the country to
which one it refers. For instance in Cluj, a city with approximately 20% Hungarian
population has a vehemently anti-Hungarian mayor, Gheorghe Funar. The Hungarianlanguage
newspaper in Cluj, Szabadság, is therefore vital to the Hungarian population
of the city, providing them with a voice through which they can express themselves
with regard to all of the current important issues in the region. In contrast, Heti Új Szó
in Timişoara has a far smaller readership. The Heti Új Szó used to be a daily, but it had
to turn into a weekly because of the unfavourable economic conditions in the first half
of the 1990s.
Balló Áron, editor-in-chief of Szabadság, has another opinion about the success factors
of a Hungarian newspaper. Not only the existing interethnic situation or the “need to
find a voice” of the Hungarian population in an intolerant climate motivates the
population to buy the newspaper. The Oradea or Satu Mare Hungarian-language daily
newspapers like the Bihari Napló and the Szatmári Friss Újság. They serve a Hungarian
population of a similar size to the one served by the Szabadság in Cluj, and there is
probably less interethnic tension in Oradea or Satu Mare than in Cluj. Even so, the
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