The parliament passes changes to the Press Code on September 17, 2019. Amendments were submitted by Smer MP Dušan Jarjabek (picture) (source: TASR)
The right of reply granted to public officials, including politicians, is returning to the Slovak legal system.
It was first introduced under the first government of Robert Fico back in 2008, then cancelled by Iveta Radičová’s government in 2011. Now parliament has passed a new right-of-reply law, to become valid as soon as November 1, 2019.
The parliament approved amendments to the Press Code, proposed by Smer MP Dušan Jarjabek, on September 17. A total of 86 MPs voted for updates to the Code, the TASR newswire reported.
“Only a factual claim is to be subject to the law. The reply to assessment judgements is therefore impossible,” argued MPs who had submitted the proposals, as quoted by TASR.
Publishers and international media organisations previously criticised and rejected the draft amendments, which first appeared in January 2019.
