< strong>The time of powerlessness is always welcome for the media, because when the power feels secure and has a perspective in front of it, it starts to seem to it that it can manage all systems, first of all the media.
This is what the media expert and teacher Prof. Georgi Lozanov told "Focus“.
Bulgarian politicians cannot get used to the idea that a journalistic standard is to put a politician in a situation of media discomfort, he commented.
"If you put a politician in a situation of media comfort, you are not doing journalism, you are doing PR. This is not a bad attitude towards him, but fulfilling your professional commitment. You have to ask him the most unpleasant questions – this is the condition“, pointed out Lozanov.
Trust and authority are a deficit for Bulgarian politicians at the moment, the expert emphasized.
The media environment in Bulgaria suffers from guarantees of independence, protection of journalists, political and economic influences on the media, according to a report of the European Commission on Bulgaria. According to the report, state advertising at the regional level is used to exert influence.
"This is a very big problem and it was even more difficult because it absolutely made these funds meaningless. They were given so that the Bulgarian citizen could understand European policies through the media and feel like a part of these policies, to get an insight into what is being done. Instead, these funds are used so that Bulgarian local authorities can provide themselves with media comfort, thus effectively failing the journalistic project. The purpose of this money is for Bulgarians to feel much more European in a political sense, and not to become a constant victim of Putin's propaganda,” said Prof. Lozanov.
According to the expert, these funds should not be distributed by the various ministries, but by a single central authority.
The simultaneous ownership of media and telecoms is an imposed practice in Bulgaria, the report of the European Commission states, which is not illegal, noted Lozanov.
"We have been having this conversation for a long time. This is called media ownership concentration thresholds. This assessment has not been carried out so far, and any attempt to do so at the last moment has been blocked, including with some half-decisions, such as the so-called law "Peevski”, which they submitted for the printed editions, which are obliged to declare their owners – something that is more of an administrative act than a real view of ownership.
Property is no longer the most important thing, because it is very easily hidden. Financing does not necessarily go through the owner – it can go through advertising or other budgets. And thirdly, which is the most important – what is participation in the market of influence“, pointed out Georgi Lozanov.