site.btaUPDATED University of National and World Economy Hosts Forum on Freedom of Speech in Bulgarian Media

A forum dedicated to the freedom of speech in Bulgarian media took place at the University of National and World Economy (UNWE) here on Tuesday.

BTA Director General Kiril Valchev said: "Forums like this one are an opportunity for cooperation between the media in Bulgaria. Because it is in the public interest to have cooperation before competition among them. The fruits of such cooperation should lead to some practical results of great public interest." Valchev listed seven potential effects: restoring debates between political leaders, reintroducing traditional interviews with political leaders, reintroducing press conferences, restoring the distance between journalists and politicians, reinstating citation of sources, reinstating citation between media outlets and reinstating support between media outlets when journalists are targeted for their work.

UNWE rector Prof. Dimitar Dimitrov pointed out that universities are a good place for discussions such as this one that allow researchers and scholars to have a first-hand look at the most important issues that concern the media community. He added: "Freedom of expression, ethical standards as well as the quality of media dialogue are fundamental for the establishment of independent media that are on the side of Bulgarian citizens."

Anna Tanova-Atanasova, Executive Director of the Association of Bulgarian Radio and Television Broadcasters and head of the National Self-Regulatory Board (NSS) said that the forum aims to focus on the freedom of media services in terms of communication freedoms. She noted that information freedom ensures the pluralism of viewpoints in society and ensures that the political, ideological or spiritual sphere is not monopolized. Tanova-Atanasova called the freedom of information a guarantee for the existence of democratic societies.

Director General of the Bulgarian National Television (BNT) Emil Koshlukov spoke about regulations, saying: "In May 2021, a paragraph was introduced in the Electoral Code that changed the regulation of the election campaign. The first paragraph of this code, the same Article 189, says what the formats are, how the campaigns are conducted, how the agreements of the public media with the political parties are signed, and the third paragraph states that equal participation of all political entities and parties participating in the elections that have registered candidates in all constituencies must be ensured. This largely nullifies the previous text of the paragraph, which says that the media must fairly cover the candidates and their messages according to their significance and equity."

Koshlukov labelled this overregulation, which resulted in the emergence of small political parties that enjoy little to no public support. Despite that, media outlets are obligated to offer equal time to all formations, which leads to big parties refusing to take part in debates and the public being disinformed with promises of unfeasible policies.

Director General of the Bulgarian National Radio (BNR) Milen Mitev said that today's media operate in tough times, as they have many non-traditional competitors. He said: "If 50 years ago, every country had one or two media outlets controlled by the state, later on a multitude of media outlets emerged. Now we are all competing for a very limited resource, the audience's time. And on this field, we are competing not only with our colleagues from other media but also with content sharing platforms, with social networks, with platforms for providing movies and music like Netflix and Spotify, even with computer games."

Acting Chair of the Council for Electronic Media (СЕМ) Dr Simona Veleva reported that the media regulator has an extraordinary function to monitor how election campaigns are covered and to report violations to the Central Election Commission. This activity has evolved from an extraordinary one to one of a systematic nature. Veleva added: "It is an absolute commitment for CEM to be the guarantor and do everything within our powers to guarantee the freedom of speech of the media in Bulgaria."

She said: "When we talk about the right to express an opinion, it has clear limits. And it is no coincidence that Article 17 of the European Convention on Human Rights explicitly provides that these rights and the right of expression may not be used to undermine any of the rights guaranteed by the Convention. And hate speech, threats against journalists, attacks on democracy, collusion in the dark - these are the natural enemies of democracy."

Union of Bulgarian Journalists (UBJ) Management Board head Snezhana Todorova recalled that the UBJ has tabled proposals for legislative changes since 2017 aimed at strengthening the guarantees for journalists' rights and ensuring proper public funding of the media. However, these draft revisions have not yet been considered by MPs, although they are in line with EU policies in these areas, including the most recent ones, she noted.

The UBJ's proposals for legislative changes are published on the Union's website. Among the highlights are: Labour Code amendments to protect journalists' work through collective bargaining and union membership; an amendment to the Protection and Development of Culture Act to provide state funding of the media through the Media Environment Protection Fund; and revisions to the Penal Code to protect journalists from verbal, physical and other abuse.