Bulgaria

[BG] An Election Memorandum Rejected by the Commercial Media

IRIS 2011-8:1/16

Rayna Nikolova

New Bulgarian University

On 2 June 2011 the team of the Slavi Show, broadcast by the private national channel bTV, dedicated its daily episode to the candidacy of Mrs. Miglena Kuneva for president of the Republic of Bulgaria. The show was aired four days before Mrs. Kuneva’s candidacy was formally launched on 6 June 2011.

On 3 June 2011, the management of the bTV Media Group stated that the publicity for Mrs. Kuneva in the Slavi Show had not been the subject of consultation with the company’s management as the Slavi Show is an outside production having its own independent editorial policy and all statements made in the show are those of the production company. Immediately after the participation of Mrs. Kuneva in the Slavi Show many members of the Parliament requested the Council for Electronic Media to intervene in the political propaganda made by the Slavi Show’s team.

On 7 June 2011 the Council for Electronic Media made a proposal only to thirteen private electronic media (including the bTV Media Group) to sign an agreement containing certain rules and principles for the broadcasting of political events before and during the presidential election campaign. The legal form of the proposal of the media regulator is an “election memorandum”, which is not explicitly mentioned in the Bulgarian Radio and Television Act.

On 9 June 2011 the Bulgarian Radio and Television Operators Association and its members declared that they would not sign the proposed election memorandum as they believe that the electronic media should adhere to the terms and conditions set out in the Ethics Code of the Bulgarian Media, which provide for sufficient guarantees for the citizens’ rights to obtain impartial and objective information from the media.