NGO: 90% of Bulgarian Journalists Subject to Pressure

A mere 10% of Bulgarian journalists report they have not been pressured at all during the election process as well as the media they work for. File photo

Half of all Bulgarian journalists have been subject to political pressure during the presidential and local elections campaign while another 40% have endured economic pressure.

A mere 10% of journalists report they have not been pressured at all as well as the media they work for.

The data comes from a report of the Media Democracy Foundation, presented Monday.

Experts from the Foundation have monitored a total of 7 national dailies in October, 2011.

Expert, Orlin Spasov, explains that Prime Minister, Boyko Boriosv, had the strongest presence in the press, saying the latter managed to divert the vote to himself.

Politicians who voiced the most opinions in the media were party leaders, not presidential bidders.

Media have demonstrated a stable positive attitude towards Borisov and the presidential candidate of the ruling Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria party (GERB) – former Regional Minister and now president-elect, Rosen Plevneliev.

The attitude towards the candidate of the opposition, left-wing Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), former Foreign Minister and current Member of the European Parliament, Ivaylo Kalfin, had also been positive, but way below the level of the one for Plevneliev. Attitude towards independent candidate, ex Bulgarian EU Commissioner, formerly from the party of ex Prime Minister and Tsar, Simeon Saxe-Coburg, National Movement for Stability and Prosperity (NMSP), Meglena Kuneva, had been rather negative.

Positive publications on Plevneliev were 6 times more than the negative ones, compared to 1.7 for Kalfin. Negative comments on Kuneva were twice more than the positive ones with a strong negative campaign against her led by tabloids.

BSP leader and former PM, Sergey Stanishev, and the leader of the far-right, nationalist party Ataka, Volen Siderov, also suffered many negative publications.

Spasov says that during election campaign media were paid for open and hidden political advertisement and for black PR.

According to the expert, media more and more act as enterprises and business structures in need of lucrative orders while journalists have turned into office secretaries, processing information and following certain policies towards certain clients.

Spasov further compares media influence to vote buying, stressing there is a "shadow media economy" in Bulgaria, trading media messages to the extent of turning them into product advertisements and acting as brokers between politics and public.

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