President Rumen Radev: The Professional Standards in Journalism Can Be Defended only by Independent Media

The professional standards in journalism can be defended only by free media, which are independent in political and financial terms. This is what President Rumen Radev said at a meeting held at 2 Dondukov street with the CEO of radio Free Europe, Jamie Fly, who is visiting Bulgaria. The Head of State highly appreciated the resumption of the activity of Free Europe in Bulgaria and particularly the media’s contribution to investigating journalism and the fight against top-level corruption, the presidential press office reported.

The meeting focused on the state of the media environment in Bulgaria, the freedom of speech, meeting the professional media standards and the influence of self-censorship on journalism. In Rumen Radev’s words, defending pluralism and objectivity in the media space is of key importance not only for the civil society, but also for the country’s democratic development. The financial vulnerability of a lot of media and the lack of clear rules for allocating EU funds in the media sphere were identified as serious factors for the deformation of the information environment in Bulgaria.

Jamie Fly familiarized President Rumen Radev with the activity of radio Free Europe, which works and prepares journalistic materials in 22 countries in 26 languages. He praised the Bulgarian Head of State’s consistent stance in defense of the media independence in Bulgaria and the objectivity of the media content.

The CEO of radio Free Europe called on the Bulgarian institutions to take efficient action against any attempt to exert administrative or any other pressure on the journalists in Bulgaria. Jamie Fly emphasized that the media will continue to function in Bulgaria, defending the professional standards independent from political influence and will encourage investigating journalism.

At the meeting the Head of State reiterated the need of adopting a comprehensive media law in Bulgaria, which should stipulate common for all media standards and will regulate in a transparent manner their activity and funding model.    

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