The Bulgarian National Television (BNT) is investigating a case of a Ukrainian flag badge being removed from a guest's lapel minutes before his television appearance, BGNES reports. The incident concerns the executive director of the "Orpheus" studio at the Ministry of Culture, Pavel Pavlov, who was forced to remove the symbol before entering the studio of the morning show "100% Budni".
After the incident, Pavlov sent an official letter to the general director of the television, Milena Milotinova, expressing his disagreement with the imposed restrictions.
"Despite my expressed disagreement, I was forced to remove the badge. Wearing a badge with the colors of Ukraine is a symbolic expression of political opinion, which is not prohibited by law," Pavel Pavlov states in his position.
He adds that the public media has an obligation to guarantee pluralism and impartiality, therefore "it should not arbitrarily censor an opinion outside the legal framework".
The media management distributed a letter to the press in which they apologized to the guest for feeling offended. BNT is adamant that it will clarify all the circumstances surrounding the recording of the holiday edition of the show.
The state television emphasizes that the management has not given instructions to limit freedom of expression by wearing personal symbols.
"There is neither an official nor an unofficial policy to limit the right of expression of its interlocutors on any issue, nor restrictions for guests in shows supporting Ukraine", the BNT statement states.
The scandal with the removed badge broke out only hours after another television appearance, which sparked debate. During his appearance on the media, constitutional judge Yanaki Stoilov raised the question of whether the design of the television studio should not be changed. The reason for his comment was the fact that the decor is designed in blue and yellow – the colors that match those of the national flag of Ukraine.