US ambassador emphasises responsibility of journalists

Budapest, March 10 (MTI) – United States Ambassador Colleen Bell emphasised the responsibility of journalist to provide a counterbalance to ignorance, hate and fear at an event marking the Day of Hungarian Press, in Budapest on Thursday.

Addressing an annual awards ceremony at the headquarters of the Association of Hungarian Journalists (MUOSZ), where six eminent journalists were honoured, the ambassador said that whenever only one side of a story is told, a free press seizes the opportunity to tell the other side.

“Journalists, especially good journalists like those you honour today, not only expose them, but also bring attention to the dangers of intolerance, and report with moral and ethical responsibility,” the ambassador said.

“Even in countries like Hungary, where some hate speech is criminalised, 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 said.