US Ambassador at journalist award ceremony

March 15 is not only a national holiday (commemorating the 1848 revolution) but also traditionally the Day of Journalism in Hungary. This year's celebration was held this Thursday at the 120-year-old Association of Hungarian Journalists (MUOSZ) with US Ambassador Colleen Bell also addressing the audience.

Among other things, the Ambassador stated that "Freedom of expression is not an absolute right.  It is firmly rooted in the principle that the rights of the individual to express him or herself extend only so far as that expression does not intrude into the rights of others."

She also noted that "herever there is an imbalance, where only one side of any story is being told, a free press will seize on the opportunity to tell the other side of the story.  Where speakers spew hateful, crass ignorance, and where vague societal discontent and anger is misdirected toward those who are most vulnerable, it is the responsibility of the free press not just to report on the phenomenon, but to expose the evil for what it is: a mirage of lies."

"Even in countries like Hungary, where some hate speech is criminalized, there is a fundamental responsibility to rely not only on the government or the courts to address the problem, but for the press to publicly expose the intellectual and moral bankruptcy of those who would peddle racism, xenophobia, and anti-Semitism," the Ambassador pointed out.