Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2010-09-07-Speech-2-559"
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"en.20100907.33.2-559"2
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"Madam President, Commissioner, media freedom is an integral part of the human rights system and cannot be considered outside of the general context of democracy. In Bulgaria, like everywhere else, the media work under intense market pressure. Sales are falling, advertising is dwindling and new media are making the boundary between professional journalism and social media increasingly blurred. Other journalists have ever fewer opportunities to practise and carry out their profession normally. Traditional media and their audience are disappearing. For example, it was announced today that one of Bulgaria’s good, quality newspapers
is stopping printing. In this situation, the media become heavily dependent not on their readers but on their benefactors, whether business or government, which are faced with the temptation of swapping media freedom for their own comfort in the media spotlight.
Unfortunately, a large proportion of publishers in Bulgaria have their main interest in other areas. This creates the prerequisites for pressure and the abuse of editorial policy in return for concessions and good treatment from the government. For its part, the government systematically shows its disregard for the principle of institutions’ independence, including those involved in media regulation. The situation has reached the point where it is deliberately seeking forgiveness in writing from the media after asking them whether pressure was being exerted on them. This, in itself, is a form of exerting pressure.
The problems in Bulgaria are not unique. They are encountered in other countries too. I would not tar all media with the same brush and would not criticise for a moment either the good journalists who are often forced into working without permanent contracts or, in general, into looking for a change of career. The problem is a structural one. It is basically linked to self-censorship, which is often applied. We must also add to this the concentration in terms of media distribution, whether digital or printed.
Recently, the previous team at the European Commission envisaged measures for maintaining and monitoring media pluralism. We particularly need this to happen now. Populism and aggression are very tempting but they have never led to real solutions. I am expecting the European Commission to take an active role at the moment and propose a solution. I am aware that this is a sensitive issue and is often not subject to formal measurement, even though there are such indicators for doing this. In spite of this, the European Parliament must set very high expectations and criteria. The importance of guaranteeing, preserving and developing democracy in Europe is just as high."@en1
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