Declaration of Support from the Union of the Journalists in Bulgaria "Podkrepa"

DECLARATION

The Union of the Journalists in Bulgaria - "Podkrepa" supports the just protest and the demands of journalists, music editors, sound-producers and technicians in the Bulgarian National Radio, as stated in the Open Letter dated January 15, 2001. In its efforts to find an obedient Director of the National Radio, the National Council for Radio and Television beat all expectations! The competition they organized showed clearly who cannot be a Director of the media. It is already clear to everyone why the National Radio is still not public and who is to blame for that!? Any political insinuations, now attributed to the protest at the BNR, speak of party interference and pressure exerted upon the state media. That is definitely a threat to the freedom of speech in Bulgaria. As a member of the most authoritative international journalist organization in the world - the International Federation of Journalists - the Union of the Journalists in Bulgaria - "Podkrepa" will inform the international institutions about the unprincipled acts of the National Council for Radio and Television, as well as about the definite attempts at political interference in the functioning of the national media in Bulgaria. Sofia, Jan. 17, 2001 On behalf of the Union's Council: Rayna Dormishkova Chairperson of the Union of the Journalists in Bulgaria "Podkrepa"

TO THE NATIONAL COUNCIL FOR RADIO AND TELEVISION
OPEN LETTER

from journalists, music editors, sound-producers and technicians in Horizont programme of the Bulgarian National Radio Dear Ladies and Gentlemen, 1. We definitely disagree to hear statements about the Bulgarian National Radio as a media and an institution with subsiding functions, needing urgent reanimation in order to be saved. The only criterion about the authority and the quality of a media is the level of its being listened to as well as the degree of public trust. We shall remind you of the fact that the BNR enjoys the highest public confidence not only among the electronic media, but quite often among all institutions in Bulgaria as well. That fact is frequently confirmed by the surveys of a number of major independent sociological agencies. The BNR is also a leader in the audience's preferences among all radio stations. In that sense, if there exists an electronic media in Bulgaria, standing the closest to the public radio, that is indisputably the BNR. 2. We clearly understand that in order to cover completely all European standards related to a public radio, we have still a tough road ahead of us. However, one of the main obstacles, hampering the BNR's turning completely into a public radio, is the lack of real public financing. The major responsibility for that belongs to the National Council for Radio and Television (NCRT). To our knowledge, nowhere in the world practice shows an example of an independent public media financed directly and only from the state budget. 3. We insist on getting an answer to the question: Why did the NCRT change in the course of the competition the procedure it had established itself for the election of a Director General of the BNR? So as to get a detailed impression of the professional arguments of the Council, we insist on publishing the Minutes of its meeting held on January 12. We also remind the honoured organ that the widely promised transparency of the process should involve the publishing of the proposed concepts, which can play the role of a certain guarantee for keeping the author's rights of the candidates. At the same time, the published (in Internet) report on the recent mandate of the management of the BNR received no public appraisal from the Media Council. 4. We insist that the NCRT should present to the public its concrete views on turning the BNR into a public radio. The lack of a clear criterion for that creates possibilities for speculations and manipulations with the term "public radio" and to take up streamlined positions. Moreover, with the successive new rules for election of a Director General of the BNR there are no guarantees for the fulfillment of the orally stated promises of the candidates. 5. We demand that our objections and questions should not be interpreted as lobbying for anyone, but rather as a manifestation of our principal disagreement to be placed in the role of passive supernumeraries in an unworthy vaudeville. 6. BECAUSE OF THE NCRT'S INABILITY TO FOLLOW THE DEMOCRATIC PROCEDURES IT HAS ESTABLISHED ITSELF, WE INSIST THAT THE MEMBERS OF THE MEDIA COUNCIL SHOULD WITHDRAW FROM THEIR POSTS. Sofia, January 15, 2001