In recent days, many Bulgarian journalists felt very puzzled by the new ranking of the renowned world organization, which is really the only one interested in the freedom of speech and the life of journalists in highly self-censoring, repressive societies where the big media are in the hands of a circle of businessmen directly related to certain political circles. This organization is Reporters Without Borders. Given the fact that Bulgaria fell from 35th to 112th place from 2009 to 2021 on their parameters, and bearing in mind the virtually unchanged situation with the ownership and management of national and public media from 2021 to now, and especially considering the situation with the pro-Russian sentiments in some broadcasts on national air after the start of the war, it seems strange that our country is "raised" on this important indicator: Freedom of speech and press.

The reason is a change in methodology. None of the measures proposed by Reporters Without Borders to support press freedom were implemented, but there were no serious violations either.

Bulgarian media OFFNews asked the director of Reporters Without Borders for the EU and the Balkans, Pavol Szalai, what the situation actually is. And he answered:

Iskra Angelova: "Mr. Szalai, what is the result of Bulgaria in terms of freedom of speech in 2022? And why has your organization seen such great progress?"

Pavol Szalai: "Although Bulgaria has risen by 20 places, the score has improved to a much lesser extent (+3.86). It should also be taken into account that Bulgaria is in a range of results with very small differences between countries, which is therefore an area prone to fluctuations.

Bulgaria is no longer in the penultimate place in the EU ranking, having exchanged positions with Malta. But Bulgaria is still at the bottom: fourth from the last places in the EU.

The improvement in the political score reflects the fact that for most of 2022 the country was governed by the Petkov government, which is generally seen as respecting press freedom and limiting attempts to interfere with it. Borissov's years were disastrous for journalism.

Despite the positive trends I have mentioned, the authorities have failed to take systematic measures to improve press freedom, and journalists are often the target of attacks by some political parties, especially 'Vazrazhdane'.

The progress on the legal indicator can be attributed to efforts to combat the abuse of judicial cases in the country, as RSF recommended in 2021. Another problem is the reversed role of some high-ranking prosecutors: instead of protecting journalists and systematically prosecuting crimes against them, they put pressure on them, as shown by the recent case of Dimitar Stoyanov, in which the confidentiality of the sources was threatened.

The increased safety rating can be explained by the lower number of threats against journalists."

/OFFNews

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