Hugh Grant: Hugh and cry over press freedom in Hungary Posted JUL 16 2012 by THE BUDAPEST TIMES in CEE, NEWS (SOFIA GLOBE)

The Hungarian government has sent an information pack to British actor Hugh Grant, who recently cited Hungary as an example of the dangers of state control of the media.

“We have already posted the necessary information, and unless Hugh Grant has any further questions we consider the matter closed,” the government’s international communications chief, Ferenc Kumin, said on Monday.

This came the day after newspaper Vasárnap Reggel reported that the government had put together a package for the actor but was unsure of where to send it. A spokesman for the Socialist party issued a sarcastic statement with the address of a New York PR firm representing Grant.

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(Photo: Tine Hemeryck)

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Hugh Grant: No love lost, actually Posted on 09 July 2012 (THE BUDAPEST TIMES)

A government spokesman says he will inform Hugh Grant about the workings of the Hungarian press after the British actor cited Hungary as an example of the perils of state control of the media. Grant made the remarks in the European Parliament while advocating legal limits to media ownership at a Pan-European Forum on Media Pluralism and New Media. His main message, however, was that democracy had been undermined in the UK by politicians’ fear of large media organisations.

“Some people would argue that the same was the case in Italy under Berlusconi,” Grant said. This state of affairs was the opposite extreme from the “equally terrifying” danger of too much state control of the media, the actor said. “One has to be equally vigilant about that, if you look at Hungary as an example. So you’ve got two evils.”

Grant said he was in Brussels to “raise the flag” about the former evil.

Christian Democrat politician (and former MTV news anchor) István Pálffy suggested Grant may be suffering from delusions of grandeur. “I think Hugh Grant must be stuck in one of his acting roles and still believes he is the British prime minister, whom he played in the film Love Actually,” Pálffy said.


http://www.budapesttimes.hu/2012/07/09/no-love-lost-actually/