Bulgaria: Generalized glances and blasphemies against investigative journalism

Investigative journalists in Bulgaria did, but their findings are facing a wall of silence and "closed eyes" from the authorities. Moreover, these journalists and the media are monitored, harbaded and discouraged by campaigning for blackmail and are described as "enemies of the state", said the international organization Reporters Without Borders in a report on the state of investigative journalism in Bulgaria. Only two and a half months ago, the organization released its annual memo on media freedom, in which Bulgaria collapse at the 111th, the last not only in the EU but also in the countries of the Western Balkans

. "Corruption and secret collusion between the media, politicians and oligarchs are widespread, the most visible manifestation of this abnormal situation is Delyan Peevsky."

The politician and the media owner are named in the new report with the government, for the sen

The report, titled "Mission as Possible: Investigative Journalism in Bulgaria" badyzes the reasons why fewer Bulgarian journalists and the media decide to conduct investigations on corruption and other important issues. "The reasons are clbadic – corrupt editors and publishers, self-censorship, pressure from authorities and media ownership, concentrated in the hands of oligarchs who use the press as" media clubs "to control and punish some opponents" [19659005] "In recent years, there has been a remarkable concentration of property – three quarters of the seal is in the hands of the oligarch and legislator Delyan Peevsky" says the report. 19659007] "Reporters Without Borders" noted that the print media, revolving around Peevski, separated into a separate union and withdrew from the Code of Ethics of Bulgarian media and adopted their own version of self-regulation. Reference is made to the report of Reporters Without Borders 2016 entitled "The Media Oligarchs Shop" where the name of Peevsky is mentioned 18 times

The new report finds the following paradox: technically, Bulgaria is good a place of journalism investigation because there are current and inexpensive public registries; politicians and senior officials are required to report their property and their conflicts of interest; public markets can be tracked online, and if all that is not enough, the Access to Information Act can be used as "one of the best transparency laws in Europe." "

In addition, it is not insoluble the problem of funding, as there are several Bulgarian and international foundations ready to support quality journalism research projects, notes the report. And he finds that the investigative journalism in Bulgaria is not dead, even in good shape: the journalists manage to circumvent the wall by the silence by diffusing their revelations to the public through the social networks, and unresolved issues become unavoidable for the media and authorities [19659006] "Investigative journalists are often subjected to different pressures: warnings, threats," Sicilian "messages and campaigns defamatory to physical attacks against They have been beaten in Bulgaria for their work, but there are documented plans and attempts to kill, as well as brutally beatings, car bombings and bombings of people. investigative journalists ". " No cases were disclosed and no one was charged by the prosecutor's office. " attacked journalists, but the state itself commits shameful acts of administrative and legal attacks against journalists. Here we do not even count the many cases of suicides against journalists of public figures. "

" The practice of the prosecution is to demotivate and crush the official investigations provoked by facts and evidence of corruption and abuse of power, published in journalistic investigations. According to Reporters Without Borders, "Reporters Without Borders" refers to examples of investigative journalism in Bulgaria, with the mention "Nova Theme", "Hounds". "The targets of these television surveys are rarely, if ever, reaching the upper echelons of power."

"Some printed publications, which do not belong to MP Delyan Peevsky, continue to publish good surveys and shake up the government with much more consistency than their counterparts on television. Weekly Capital and the daily Sega.The well-known qualitative studies "24 hours" and "168 hours" have separated from their quality performance after their owner has changed.Many online media such as Mediapool, ClubZ, Offnews and E- vestnik also publish quality investigation reports.But, due to budget constraints, they do not create teams of reporters to work exclusively on investigations. " emphasizes" Reporters Without Borders. "

The report notes that surveys appear sharply in the regional media [19659007TheorganizationexplainsthatthemediaarenotparticularlyenthusiasticaboutinvestigativeprojectswithriskpoliticalimplicationsandthatthediscaljournalisthasbeencommercialistUnfortunatelythepublictelevisionandpublicstatementsinBulgarianarenothighlightedandinvestigated

The report points out that the government is one of the biggest media advertisers for whom it uses money from the budget but also funds from the EU, which creates a vicious circle – the purchase of public media, and the transformation of the media into a dependence of public finances does not stimulate serious investigations

The report explains that some of the publishers of media in Bulgaria have another matter. For some, this is not an obstacle to maintaining an independent editorial policy for editions that produce quality surveys. Others, however, use their media to develop their other business or political purposes.

Foreign donors such as the Open Society Foundation, the Norwegian Government, the America for Bulgaria Foundation, the Friedrich Naumann Foundation and others. have supported and continue to support teams of independent journalists in investigative projects, notes the report, and leaves open the question, "Is there life after the end of grant programs."