Senate approves amendment to press 'muzzle law'

More than two years after the passing of the controversial press "muzzle law," the Senate has approved an amendment to the measure that seeks to water down some of the restrictions that the original legislation placed on journalists.

The amendment, which in May was passed by the Chamber of Deputies, allows the media to release information obtained from police wiretap recordings if it is deemed in the public interest. The measure also makes an attempt to better define whose identity should be shielded from the media and who is fair game.

"The purpose of this amendment is to mitigate the impact of the so-called muzzle law," Justice Minister Jiří Pospíšil (Civic Democrats, ODS) told journalists after the Senate voted on the legislation June 8. "The amendment maintains the increased protection of particularly vulnerable victims for publication, but also allows the media to publish information if public interest outweighs the right of a person to protect their privacy."

The law keeps in place the original prohibition of the media publishing information from criminal proceedings unless it is deemed by authorities as being in the public interest. The amendment allows media to publish, for instance, the name of a politician under investigation, while the name of violent criminals and their alleged victims would remain protected.

"These changes repair the biggest damages because the law now admits that what is in the public interest prevails over the security of the privacy of public figures," said Adam Černý, head of the local chapter of the Syndicate of Journalists, an industry association. "This principle is generally respected in democratic countries."

The law will be monitored on a case-by-case basis, Pospíšil said.

As it was written after its passage in 2008, the muzzle law forbids publishing the names of anyone involved in criminal cases or any information from anonymous police sources or wiretaps. Journalists in violation of the law are subject to fines of 5 million Kč and up to five years in prison.

Critics at the time the law was enacted argued that the law went too far, and almost immediately a movement was under way to garner support for an amendment that softened the legislation.

In January 2010, then Human Rights and Minorities Minister Michael Kocáb proposed the first version of the amendment, which was then debated by the lower house's Legal and Constitutional Committee. They were unable to agree on a final version.

The law was proposed in 2008 after a cult organization called the Grail Movement accused the daily Mladá fronta Dnes of incorrectly reporting that two young boys in the south Moravian town of Kuřim were victims of cannibalistic rituals performed by the group.

The amendment also more clearly defines what constitutes victims of violent and sexual crimes as those victims are still protected by the law, as are pregnant women, the severely disabled and those living under the care of others, including children.

The last step for the changes to become law is for President Václav Klaus to sign the amendment.

Jack Buehrer can be reached at
jbuehrer@praguepost.com