site.btaAssociation of European Journalists Condemns Media Regulator Head's Denial of Bucha Massacre

In a statement issued on Friday, the Association of European Journalists - Bulgaria (AEJ) argued that "denying or neglecting mass killings can be defined as 'hate speech' and exceeds the bounds of free expression".

The NGO's position was prompted by a recent YouTube interview in which Council for Elecrtonic Media (CEM) Chair Sonya Momchilova listed the Bucha massacre among conspiracy theories and unproven hypotheses, claiming that that are part of "Ukrainian propaganda".

On Thursday, CEM distanced itself from Momchilova's position, but she has not made a statement of her own on the issue.

"A member of the Council for Electronic Media and especially a chair of the Council should be sufficiently media literate to be able to orient themselves better and not accept conspiracy theories as a valid standpoint. All the more so that it is precisely CEM and its chair that represent Bulgaria in the European Regulators Group for Audiovisual Media Services (ERGA) which, according to the effective EU Audiovisual Directive, has been committed to countering disinformation back since 2019," the AEJ pointed out. It argues that "it is absurd to have a person spreading conspiracy theories.

"A group of journalists and human rights activists have demanded Sonya Momchilova's resignation on account of her statement about Bucha. AEJ has been pressing for Mrs Momchilova's resignation back since December 2022 on account of her invectives against journalists," the organization recalls.

"We also call on President Rumen Radev and on the GERB Political Party to state clearly whether they share the position of CEM Chair Sonya Momchilova as part of, as she claims, Ukrainian propaganda because precisely the representatives elected by them to CEM have elected and keep Sonya Momchilova at the head of the Council even though two of the other CEM members have demanded her resignation and have distanced themselves from her, prompted by her previous public and media appearances. Momchilova herself, too, has been nominated by President Rumen Radev, and politicians should not evade responsibility for the actions of the people they have sent to the supreme audiovisual regulator," the AEJ statement reads.