site.btaHalf of Journalists Complain about Political and Economic Pressure

Half of Journalists Complain about Political and Economic Pressure


Sofia, November 5 (BTA) - Fifty-two per cent of Bulgarian
journalists complain that those in powerholding positions exert
pressure on the media, shows a study titled "Influence on the
Media - Owners, Politicians and Advertisers", conducted by the
Konrad Adenauer and the Reporter foundations and presented on
Wednesday.

The study was conducted between January and September, 2014
among 100 journalists and 40 media outlets, including national,
regional, print and electronic media, as well as a few news
websites. The results were presented by Krum Blagoev of the
Reporter Foundation and Dr. Orlin Spassov of Sofia University.
Additional interviews were conducted among 15 influential media
owners.

One-third of the journalists see an increasing political
pressure. Journalists complain mostly about the politicians'
growing influence, while media owners feel under pressure from
advertisers, Spassov said. Thirty per cent of reporters and
editors say that there are certain tendencies in the reporting
on specific topics, people or companies.

One in four journalists state that they have had their texts not
published, while one in three feels under pressure from
advertisers. Over half of media owners admit to having stopped
journalists' articles from being published at their own
discretion. One in three journalists believe the owner
interferes in editorial work. A third of reporters complain
about the so called internal taboos - topics which should not be
written about. Twenty-nine per cent of respondents admit that
they want to make some facts public, but this is impossible in
the media they work for.

Around 40 per cent of journalists admit to having been offered
two-figure sums to publish advertisements in the form of a news
article. Editors-in-chief have received five- and six-figure
sums in return for showing good attitude towards certain people,
while media owners admit to having received a seven-figure sum
for their media's general orientation.

The study's authors give nine recommendations to improve
conditions in the media sector, which include an equal access of
all media to information and the better regulation of sales.
Another recommendation is for more transparency of the State as
an advertising client and the media's economic situation,
especially print media. There should be a requirement to label
advertising articles in print media as such. Moreover, the
experts ask for a political debate about the restriction of
media ownership concentration.

Council for Electronic Media Chair Georgi Lozanov proposed the
establishment of a journalist chamber, which would have all
leading journalists in Bulgaria as its members. According to
Lozanov, journalists today belong to the media owners, but
should belong only to their professional organization, because
the different media are just "stages" they go through. If the
guild sees dependencies in the behaviour of a journalist, it
should be able to exclude him from its ranks and play the role
of a "media hospital", Lozanov said.