site.btaBNR Director General Mitev Discusses Public Media’s Role in Wake of European Broadcasting Union’s Anniversary

“Through the media, we can seek the things that unite us – sometimes much more effectively than politicians do,” said Bulgarian National Radio (BNR) Director General Milen Mitev on the occasion of the European Broadcasting Union’s  (EBU) 75th anniversary. The event is marked with a special program in Brussels, according to BNR.

Milen Mitev is a member of the Executive Board of the Union. According to him, after public media have survived the rise of social networks and continue to enjoy significant public trust, there is now another major technological change ahead with the advent of artificial intelligence. “It’s very important how we, the public media, will manage to use it. It’s crucial how AI will use our content,” commented the BNR chief. He emphasized the need for a “legislative framework that allows public media to operate on equal footing with the big technology companies.”

“Fighting disinformation cannot happen through bans. Time has shown that bans are either ineffective or provoke additional interest in the banned service,” Mitev said, as quoted by BNR. “Our societies cannot use us as a weapon, but they must understand that they can use us as protection. Our independence is in the interest of society as a whole,” he added.

The European Broadcasting Union unites 113 public media organizations from 56 countries. “Seventy-five years later, in a worrying geopolitical situation – the war in Ukraine and the Middle East, after the United States breaks the Transatlantic pact that shaped our societies since the end of World War II – we’ve never had a greater need to unite to defend our values. Not just to defend public services, but to defend the world as we want to preserve it – our democracies, values, the unity of our communities and citizens,” noted the President of EBU, Delphine Ernotte, as quoted by BNR.