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This spring, the Public Law Center held its second annual workshop in Révfülöp, which - continuing the legislative theme of the event series - was entitled "Values or Interests? New Directions and Challenges of Media Regulation in the Online Space".

On the weekend of 5-7 May 2023, the participating students were able to gain insight into the difficulties of media regulation, especially the regulation of online content, the challenges presented by artificial intelligence and AI-generated content, and the possible ways of resolving the conflicts of interest behind the creation of domestic and international legislative products and EU legislation.

The invited speakers tried to give a complete picture of the topic, from general issues of legislation to the specific regulatory environment of media players and online platforms:

  • Dr. Zsuzsanna Monori (Public Law Center) highlighted the public nature of media law and the impact of regulation on democratic processes.
  • Dr. Márton Sulyok (Head of the Public Law Center) spoke about the constitutional relevance of the topic in relation to the nature of the regulation of independent regulatory bodies and the competing constitutional positions, interests and values that arise in relation to the topic.
  • Dr. Barna Miskolczi (NKE, Prosecutor General's Office, Head of the Hungarian Criminal Law Codification) spoke about the importance of the responsibility on the shoulders of codifiers, with particular reference to the possible directions of the legal assessment of artificial intelligence in general.
  • Dr. János Tamás Papp (PPKE, NMHH Platform Regulation Department) gave a presentation on the international regulation of online platforms, with special regard to social media platforms and the definitions of the DSA Regulation and its possible effects.
  • Two of our young researchers, Bence X. Szechenyi (Budapest Fellowship Program, Hungary Foundation and MCC fellow, freelance American journalist) and Barnabás Heincz (Law and Society Center junior researcher, journalist, deputy editor-in-chief of Hype and Hyper magazine), discussed the present and future of journalism in English.

Students had the chance to get a taste of legislative debates themselves in Saturday's debate simulation, in which they had to argue for and against a pre-published fictitious bill from the proponents' and detractors' sides in front of a committee of the fictitious parliament of the “Révfülöp Islands”. The fictitious draft legislation and related resources on which the debate was based were created by Péter Nemere (junior researcher, Public Law Center). The task of the two sides was not merely to support or criticize the proposal: the students had to attempt to draft a compromise text, as was the original nature of the parliamentary legislative debate, which would meet the requirements of the fundamental rights interests and constitutional values outlined earlier.

The program was concluded by a round table discussion in English, where Dr. Barna Miskolczi, Dr. János Tamás Papp and Bence X. Szechenyi summarized the lessons learned from the earlier sessions, highlighting aspects of their own fields. The discussion was moderated by Dr. Márton Sulyok.

In addition to the professional program, the participants attended a wine dinner at the Istvándy Winery in Badacsony, where they were introduced to the region's typical grape varieties, their cultivation and the natural and touristic characteristics of the North Balaton area by the head of the winery.