BFMI position note

A deputy prime minister does not have the standing to decide, on national television, which public broadcaster is "principled" and which is not. But that is what happened in Bulgaria this week.

On BNT1, Deputy Prime Minister Ivo Hristov praised Bulgarian National Television while casting doubt on Bulgarian National Radio. "BNT is one of the last places that upholds and preserves certain principles," he said. About BNR, he added only that he finds it difficult to say the same. He cited no specific breach of journalistic standards, no violation, no complaint on record.

Bulgaria's media regulator, CEM, responded directly, calling it unacceptable for senior representatives of the executive to set the country's two public broadcasters against each other. CEM pointed out that BNR currently leads Bulgaria in public trust according to the latest Reuters Institute report and holds a recognised role at the European Broadcasting Union, and that BNT, in turn, also enjoys strong public trust. Both operate under editorial standards designed to protect journalistic independence, and CEM invoked the European Media Freedom Act directly in its objection.

This is precisely the kind of pressure the Act was written to catch. It rarely announces itself as censorship. It looks like an unsubstantiated comment from a senior official, delivered on a friendly broadcast, that quietly marks one newsroom as trustworthy and another as suspect, with no evidence attached and no process to contest it.

BFMI calls on CEM to follow its objection with a formal review of the comments under its EMFA obligations, and on Bulgarian and EU institutions to make clear that public broadcasters answer to transparent standards and independent regulators, not to a government official's on-air approval rating.

Source

CEM statement on Deputy Prime Minister Ivo Hristov's BNT1 interview, cem.bg, August 13, 2026 (https://www.cem.bg/displaynewsbg/1151).

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