UNION FOR DUNA TELEVISION

 

“The souls tormented by hopeless historical fates, by many decades of our mother tongue’s persecution feel the ecstasy of joy whenever blue-winged sea-gulls appear on many thousand screens, whenever the families cry out with one happy scream: Duna Television!”
 (Fragment of the letter written by András Sütő to Sándor Csóori)

In 1993 the writer András Sütő represented the opinion of hundreds of thousands of people when writing down this sentence. Something, that had seemed impossible for many decades, became reality 17 years ago. The foundation of Duna Television is akin to the building of the Chain Bridge. As the Chain Bridge connects the two sides of the Danube, Duna Television thus connects Hungarians of five continents. Duna Television was broadcasting for the first time at Christmas, 1992, transmitting the belief that one can have several houses, several homes, even several homelands, but can belong to only one nation.

Duna Television, established for treating historical traumas, is a special public media offering relief for the Hungarians swept abroad by the tide of history; it presents the highlights of our common intellectual firmament and it is always seeking consensus, while producing the magic of togetherness. This mentality is characteristic for all its programmes. Its deep humanity and artistic strength generated many international and Hungarian awards. It won two times the People’s Choice prize of the Eutelsat-Hotbird TV Awards, the Golden Palm of Cannes, the prize of the Karlovy Vary International Festival, the Europe Film Award, the prize of the New York Film Festival. In the meantime the world famous Duna Television was offered many official state awards from Romania to Poland, from Italy to Syria.

Duna Television became a public service channel in 1996. Its existence is being enhanced by the Constitution of the Hungarian Republic that states in 6.§ (3): “The Hungarian Republic is taking responsibility for the fate of Hungarians outside the borders, and helps them to improve relations with Hungary.”

The Hungarian Nation’s Television that has won the UNESCO prize for the best cultural television broadcaster in 1999, has proved to fulfil its task as a public TV channel perfectly by transmitting culture and objective information.

It has a balanced economy; it presents high quality programs, and refuses to take part in the struggle for audiences on the cost of its principles and quality. However, the Hungarian state subsidy has not increased in the last four years and it doesn’t even follow economical inflation. We, supporters of Duna Television’s future role, request the owner, the Parliament of the Hungarian Republic, and the government in power not to leave this high quality national institution at the mercy of political changes and yearly budget-debates. It’s high time to acknowledge its results.