Presentation at the conference Freedom and privacy on the Internet (FPI), 2012, Skopje, Macedonia

1. Media Reality in Bulgaria
Censorship, regulations and other
stories
22.05.2012
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2. Media sector
 Bulgaria has been persistent in taking the last positions in nearly all
international rankings for freedom of speech – Reporters Without Boarders,
Freedom House, SEEMO.
 Widespread auto censorship, “corporative journalism”, the publishers’
business model affects the quality of journalism.
 The public cannot rely on a single media source to be well informed.
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3. Who are we?
• AEJ-Bulgaria has been a member of the international Association of
European Journalists since 2010. It gathers journalists from 30 countries.
We believe that the journalism is a profession of high value
and we strive for Bulgarian journalists to be satisfied and
proud of their work. We believe that the media should be a
power for positive change, and that the new technologies
should make us not only active commentators, but
moreover – active citizens!
What we do?
•http://www.aej-bulgaria.org/
•Monthly ranking of the best and the worst examples of the
Bulgarian media
•Great ideas for useful projects
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4. How bad the media reality really is?
 AEJ-Bulgaria carried out an online survey in the period August-September
2011 among Bulgarian journalists working in print media, radio, TV stations,
online media as well as bloggers.
 They were asked to use a five scale method (5-excellent; 4-good; 3-satisfying;
2-bad; 1- very bad) in order to assess the level of freedom of expression in the
country.
 113 filled in the anonymous questionnaire, but journalists could choose to
announce their names. However, only 12 of them had the courage to do so ( 9
of whom were women).
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5. The results
• 48 participants out of 113 rated media freedom in Bulgaria as “bad”.
• 4 journalists stated it was “excellent”, whilst 5 of them thought it was “good”.
• 41 of the participants said the freedom of speech was “satisfying”, while 15
said it was “very bad”.
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6. The results
79 of the journalists reported that they have witnessed infringements on the
freedom of speech, while 25 of them said they have not.
According to 57 of the journalists the media they work for is under political
pressure, 45 of them said their employer is under economic pressure, while only
12 declared that they haven’t experienced any kind of pressure
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7. The results
• 30 of the participants said there were
such restrains. According to 34 of
them such materials are unlikely to
be approved by their editorial teams,
and 23 declared that such practice is
totally banned at their working place.
• A total of 22 journalists reported
about specific cases of restrictions on
freedom of speech. The most
frequent situation is advertisers and
politicians exerting pressure by calling
the editors-in-chief.
• 2 of the participants said they were
fired after publishing/broadcasting of
a certain material which had affected
economic or political interests. One of
these cases is concerning a journalist
www.metamorphosis.org.mk/fpi #fpi12 who had excellent achievements in
his/her field of expertise and had a

8. Comments on economic pressure:
• …Mainly paid material are being written…
• …The disappearing of a satiric show in one of the national TV channels after
the direct intervention and threatening with financial sanctions by the factual
owner of a banking institution, who has interests in the sector of tourism and
winter sports…
• Widespread dependence on large advertisers. For example – there was a crack
down of the IT system of a big telecommunication company that concerned
millions of consumers, but it was never covered by the media…
• …Verbal pressure from powerful economic actors on the management of the
media…
• …I have received instructions to write critical articles about companies and
other institutions, which had refused to advertise in the media, or about
subjects in direct conflict with the employer…
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9. Comments on political pressure:
• I was prohibited to question the ministers…
• …there is a high inflow of compromises in the media.
• …Direct telephone calls from senior officials with instructions on what to
placed in a publication and what not be, and also what should be the order of
their presentation…
• …by angry phone calls to publishers or to the editor from the ministers
concerned…
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10. Media regulations
• Bulgaria’s Law on Radio and Television – a paradoxical process because it has
requirements regarding content, yet at the same time, it must protect content
from interference, including from its own interference.
• The Council for Electronic Media (CEM) is the legal body that has to do the job.
• The law however does not apply to internet media.
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11. Regulations and elections
• During election campaigns the Electoral Code takes away media regulation from the
competent body and entrusts it to the Central Electoral Commission.
• The month before the elections the media regulation is suspended.
• National Television and Bulgarian National Radio are being turned into something like
campaign “broadcast channels”.
• Bulgarian politicians apportion airtime and determine the forms of ‘political agitation’ in
Bulgarian.
• The election campaign is seen as one-way communication the function of the media as
mediator is weakened.
• Closed circle:
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12. Public register of media owners
• In October 2010 new legislation was adopted that obliged print media to
reveal the names of their owners once per year. The new regulation however
does not apply to electronic media.
• Still the problem is that this register can be easily used to hide the real owner
and relevant economic and political interests.
• As a result there is a concentration in media ownership, the media market is
nearly monopolized by two media groups.
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13. The Ethical Code
• On 25th of November 2004 all Bulgarian media signed the Ethical Code.
• In 2012, following the split of the Publisher’s union, a second Ethical Code is
being prepared…
• Nevertheless, infringements of the Ethical Code are a common occurrence.
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14. “7 Dni Sport” Case
The title: “CSKA’s New Players:
Italian, Swede and Two
Blackies.”
AEJ-Bulgaria demanded the country’s
Prosecutor’s Office to start an
investigation under Article 162 (1) of
the Criminal Code (incitement for
hatred and discrimination based on
race).
Five months later the Prosecutor’s
Office declined, because this was
usage of “slang language to describe
the chaos in the football team”.
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15. Katya Kasabova’s case
• Defamation offences are part of the Criminal Code and serious fines are
imposed
• Katya Kasabova, a journalist with the Burgas-based daily wrote a story alleged
that 40 pupils were improperly admitted to the specialized schools, and that
bribes of $300 or more were paid to the admissions commissioners.
December 7, 2000. Criminal complaint lodged against Kasabova.
May 11, 2002. Burgas District Court finds her guilty.
January 17, 2003. Burgas Regional Court upholds the conviction and sentence.
July 16, 2003. The applicant takes her case to the European Court.
April 19, 2011. Court issues its judgment, finding a violation of Article 10.
The judge, who confirmed the sentence, Denitza Petkova is the new Deputy
Minister of Justice of Bulgaria.
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16. The Ghost of the New Media Law
• The ruling party GERB is working on a new law for the printed media, allegedly
it will be based on the Brandenburg’s media law.
• Bulgarian society which is dissatisfied with its own media “by default” and
wants the state to end the bad practices in them as soon as possible but, at
the same time, suspects that the regulatory authority will impose censorship
on them.
• What is the solution?
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17. Do you agree?
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18. Thank you!
Camelia Ivanova, AEJ-Bulgaria
camelia@aej-bulgaria.org
aej-bulgaria.org
facebook.com/aej.bulgaria
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