As part of his visit, Dr. Baer is meeting with various government officials and non-governmental organizations to obtain a variety of perspectives and opinions about recent changes and proposals to change the laws governing media in Hungary.
Following a meeting at parliament with László L. Simon, the Chairman of the Cultural and Media Committee, Dr. Baer told the press:

“Obviously we have a shared commitment to free expression and to democratic ideas, and the press is an important part of that, the media is an important part of that and a changing part with new platforms evolving. It was an important opportunity for me to understand how those changes are taking place, how they have taken place and will take place in the future here in Hungary and what they could mean…We talked about the need to make sure that unintended consequences are looked at and foreseen and that there is an opportunity to continue discussion when unintended consequences arise, so that free expression and democratic benefits of free expression be maintained.”

Photo: Daniel Baer, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor and László L. Simon, the Chairman of the Cultural and Media Committee after their meeting (Embassy photo by Ildikó Bíró)

Source: U.S. Embassy Budapest