The report was issued Friday just before the World Press Freedom Day on Sunday, May 3, and includes 195 countries. File photo
Bulgaria is part of the countries that are Partly Free according to the Press Freedom 2008 report of the nonprofit law organization Freedom House.
The report was issued Friday just before the World Press Freedom Day on Sunday, May 3, and includes 195 countries.
Media outlets express a diverse range of public and political views, in most cases without government interference. However, the country's reporters continue to face pressure and intimidation aimed at protecting economic, political, and criminal interests. The perpetrators often operate with impunity, leading to some self-censorship among journalists, the report said about Bulgaria.
It adds that top private and public media outlets are generally free of political affiliations. The popular state-owned Bulgarian National Television and Bulgarian National Radio are often critical of the government, and large foreign media firms play a major role in the private print and television markets. Germany's Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung (WAZ), for example, owns the two leading dailies, Trud and 24 Chasa (24 Hours).
However, smaller regional stations and publications struggle financially, providing low salaries to reporters and weak scrutiny of local officials. Many traditional media outlets have established a presence on the Internet, which is unrestricted by the government and used by about 30 percent of the population.
The report showed the press freedom declined worldwide in 2008 as even once-unfettered nations such as Israel and Italy imposed new limits on media coverage.
"Declines in Israel, Italy and Taiwan illustrate that established democracies with traditional open media are not immune to restricting freedom", Arch Puddington, research director for Freedom House, said.