Maria Tsantsarova was a guest on “Darik's Week“ in her first major interview after leaving the morning block on bTV. Maria Tsantsarova talks about the truth, Peevski, pressure, freedom and her new project “Off Air“.
“I thank all my colleagues who were very concerned about me all the time. They helped me with attention and a warm attitude to get through these turbulent times. I thank everyone for the opportunities that were given to me to get through this time in the most gentle way for me. This is not a conversation about Maria, but for everyone who loves their profession“, said Maria Tsantsarova.
“Mastery belongs to those who manage to influence and describe – these are the good directors and screenwriters, the people who create art, can do it in a way that it has an impact. This was part of everything I had to say. In this whole thing there was also a confirmation of the facts, because this is what we, the journalists, work with. I think no one has any hesitation about what and how is happening in the Bulgarian media“, she also stated.
“Feelings are based on experience very often. Not only the media - we observe how the judicial, political system operates… These are the feelings. Why do we have this feeling in the Bulgarian media? Probably everyone has experience of the way the environment functions. Here is the key. The series of journalists who are left without work actually shows the problem that we have all stopped appreciating the way in which we can protect journalistic work. The cliché about the fourth estate needs to be filled with meaning again“, said Maria Tsantsarova.
“We all found out about everything that was happening in real time from the tabloid press. Nothing is hidden and everything is happening before our eyes. These are facts that are known and accessible to everyone“, said Maria Tsantsarova when asked when she began to feel that a separation was coming between her and bTV.
“Everywhere in the general feeling about these tabloids, behind which we know what influences exist, when they start attacking specific journalists through their pages on the Internet, we all know that this is not accidental, but a form of pressure. Anyone who reads that their work and labor are threatened - this is pressure. This is not without significance. It is not attributed only to me. Over the years, the faces of our colleagues, many journalists, have hung on these sites. Such content is not accidental and ends with questions like the one about separation. These are key conversations. Everything that happened to me does not matter at all that it is me, because I really had the opportunity to express it in front of the students at Sofia University with great anxiety and tension within myself – the conversation is not limited to the journalist as a person. Neither I myself nor my personal life matter, but the reports, interviews and questions that we hear. When we are faced with a machine whose boss we do not see, but we know that after the publications there is a goodbye – this is a problem, but it is not only mine. It is easy to empty chairs. This is the mechanism by which any manifestation of meaningful journalism is killed. This is also important for those who come and sit in the vacated chair“, said Maria Tsantsarova.
“Pressure is something that every journalist works with daily. Ever since I left university and entered the media - pressure has existed. It's part of the job. The key is how we respond to pressure. Pressure can come in any situation. Such pressure can come from anywhere. When we have conducted investigations with colleagues that involve huge resources, there have always been calls, there have always been attempts to silence this and stop it. When I say "always", I'm not exaggerating. This is not my experience, this is how journalism works. I'm lucky that in my professional life I have always found someone with whom we understand our work in the same way. This is what my work so far has given me - the feeling that there are people who know what the point of all this is. We take the risk because we work by the rules, "commented Maria Tsantsarova on Darik's air.
„I am grateful and honest about what is happening to me. Everyone who knows me knows that I, without wanting to, create problems because I don't want there to be tension around anyone, but I want a topic not to be thrown away. I become a great concern for the people who are responsible for me. Every producer who has been responsible for my broadcasts, reports and investigations knows that it is not easy to work with me. I have always had people by my side who believe in the profession. They have paid their price so that we can stand before each of the people we have met in our work, so that we can look each other in the eye with the clear awareness that everyone has fulfilled their duty in the sense of doing their job, having meaning“, the journalist commented.
Maria Tsantsarova was asked if she was fired by Delyan Peevski, which was what was said from the parliamentary rostrum. She said: “From the parliamentary rostrum it is easy to say what you want, and I use the word “easy“ in the sense of immunity and lack of consequences, I am talking about legal ones. Last week, the chairwoman of the CEM Simona Veleva in “Darik's Week“ stepped on what you can touch. In fact, this is the story that is possible to exist. I cannot answer this question, but one answer that seemed plausible to me is “fired from the pigsty“, as Viktor Nikolaev said.“
“The journalist's job is the truth, it is not a matter of interpretation. The truth is contained in the facts. When someone tries to manipulate the facts, our job is to tell them “stop” with a question. The bad thing is when we lose the conversation and turn it into white noise”, said Maria Tsantsarova.
”The way things happened to me became clear. My colleagues know that each of them can tell, because this is not me – it was just me that day. Many times I have felt in the best way – to be nobody's, because some say that I belong to others, and they in turn say that I belong to the first. Our job is not to be convenient to anyone. This is some kind of content analysis, but what is the political action being talked about? I am worried that if I tell the story with the glass on air, it will not sound so provocative, so I will not do it. Otherwise, we would never have been able to have a conversation about the meaning of journalism and the quality of work, as well as the role of the journalist in important processes. Whatever path this cup has taken, nothing better could have happened. The collegial attitude is not because of our good relations, but because the cup simply overflowed“, commented Maria Tsantsarova.
“Did these people who left, leave on their own? I will have a great joy to work with Simona Gorcheva and Vesela Kisyova. These are wonderful people who left bTV and have shown character. When people leave for personal reasons, and in fact they are the ones who are passionate about their work, and when they decide to leave – everything begins to be crystal clear and true. Without the need to be said word for word. Everyone has something to say and how to get involved in this conversation, which now is the time to have," she further commented.
„This must have been the ideal dream of someone who wants to live in peace - for everyone to leave a place where something is burning. The easiest option is to leave. When you are ready to make an effort, to continue defending the profession, then it is very important to stay and lead the fight. This applies to the general conversation that if something flares up somewhere, it is easy to leave, but it is difficult to be honest and admit what is happening, to define the problem, to respond to it and to move towards its solution. It cannot all be bad and to have a feeling of being a pig“, said Tsantsarova.
„Such care and an unambiguous assessment was an extremely pleasant surprise. There is nothing true in the speculation that I could be on the lists of any party. These are the same speculations that we read on the pages of the tabloids that were exerting pressure. To be convincing, everything we have discussed so far with political bias, taking a political position - this sounds in sync with the theses. I have not received any offers to be on the lists and I believe that each of us can be useful with what we do, if we do it properly. I heard Svetlyo Ivanov say it twice on the air, I thank him for his attitude, but he sees me on the list of good journalists and I hope to fill the part with the good ones with content“, commented Maria Tsantsarova.
“I had organized my life in the days after Christmas with the intention of taking a deep breath, freeing my head from the weekday rhythm and the topics that concern us. I imagined a break and time in which to recover. Here again are the people who did not leave me – my closest people, who were concerned at every second about what would help me feel good, as well as my colleagues, who urgently came to me with all sorts of possibilities and ideas to implement together. With a path to continue moving forward. On my birthday, I first heard the story of Michal Kovačić, who is ending his professional career in a major television station and is continuing on a meaningful path with his colleagues, with an employer, the people who watch and listen. This was the first moment when I realized that the problem was not personal, that I currently have no job. This is a problem for all journalists, who do not want to take a side road. At that moment, Lyuba Rizova called me and told me that I could not sit on the couch and do nothing. "This was the beginning of the serious action to investigate how this Slovak colleague of ours managed to mobilize the people around him and create a working newsroom that matters," said Maria Tsantsarova.
“We met Michal Kovačić, we were with him in Bratislava. His story was the reason for us to think and believe that not only is there a need for journalism, but there are people who believe in this need and believe in journalists so much that they are ready to support us“, she also said.
“We are currently trying to create an online space for “Off Air“ that will practically function as a media outlet. In the coming days, more colleagues, whom each of us knows and appreciates, will understand that each of us has his own direction in which he works with great diligence and passion. We imagine that if we generate a resource for work for next year, we will be able to create content with which to reflect the work of the institutions, the signals of the people in the country – These are steps that we have outlined, and in fact, to put an important emphasis on the investigations that we believe we have the potential to do in this free space. We imagine that the platform will be a place for all people who make their content off-air," commented Tsantsarova.
„For each of us at „Off-air“ it will be an honor for the viewers to be our employer. Part of our team is Vasil Hristov, a long-time international reporter. We rely on him because he is the person who will help us bring the world closer and lead the conversation as part of it. We imagine working in partnership with our colleagues from „Off-air“. We think the conversation between political forces is important at a time when we saw how many of our compatriots showed civic energy after the recent events in December. The civil protests gave politicians the opportunity to speak out about the shortcomings of the system. "The treatment of problems goes through honest conversation," said Maria Tsantsarova to Bozhidar Rusev.