Bulgarian Television Director Defends Turkish Language News

Pramova’s comments come after Rosen Markov, the eccentric leader of the “Party of Bulgarian Men” set himself on fire Tuesday night in front of the BNT central office in protest against the broadcasting of news in the Turkish language. Photo by BGNES

The Director General of Bulgarian National Television (BNT), Uliyana Pramova, has stated that it is not only up to her station to decide on the future of the daily Turkish news broadcast.

Pramova said that “any hasty and emotional action would violate our program license.” She added that, two months after the mandatory six-month contract of the Turkish language broadcast, questions had been asked and the Council for Electronic Media (CEM) replied that there is no problem.

"My personal opinion is that at the end of 2009, we are more intolerant than 10 years ago – to ‘different’ people. No matter how low the rating of the Turkish National Television news, watched by 50 000 - 60 000 people per day, the removal of this news at the moment would deprive these people of this information, which they obviously need. My professional opinion is that in the future development of BNT multiple programs for minorities in their mother tongue will be provided,” Pramova added

She concluded that “in December, BNT’s scaled opinion poll on the matter will be ready and we will take a reasoned decision based on the results.”

Pramova’s comments come after Rosen Markov, the eccentric leader of the “Party of Bulgarian Men” set himself on fire Tuesday night in front of the BNT central office in protest against the broadcasting of news in the Turkish language.

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