site.btaCulture Minister Minekov: "Above All, Bulgarian Media Need Courage"

Instead of fulfilling an important mission in the fight against fake news, Bulgarian media risk to drift in other directions in order to be competitive and catch up with social media. "Over the years we have witnessed political interference in private and public media. Threats to journalists are no longer physical, and one in 10 journalists has been threatened with a lawsuit. Bulgaria still ranks last in terms of media freedom in the European Union, so Bulgarian media need courage above all,"  Culture Minister Velislav Minekov said here Wednesday, addressing the participants in the 17th World Meeting of Bulgarian Media which is taking place in Israel from October 1 to 3.  

The media environment in Bulgaria continues to be problematic mainly due to two conditions - non-transparent ownership and the dependence of public media on state funding, the culture minister said. According to him, the Radio and Television Act is outdated and does not correspond to the modern communication environment.

"Traditional media such as radio, television and press have long ceased to be a leader and have been displaced by social networks and the internet. All studies show that people under 30-40 do not inform themselves from the traditional sources of information, this is a problem not only for Bulgaria, but also for the European and global market," said Minekov.