A major study of the influence of businessmen, politicians and advertisers on Bulgarian media shows the striking dependence of journalists in Bulgaria. Half of the 100 journalists from 40 media that took part in the study complained about political pressure in their work, and one out of three speaks about influence on the part of advertisers. The study was conducted by two recognized media experts - Krum Blagov and Orlin Spasov. 
 
"A number of journalists, among them famous TV presenters and reporters, refused to participate in the study. Colleagues openly admitted that they are afraid "- Krum Blagov said. One out of three journalists in Bulgaria believes that political pressure on the media has been increasing and editorial offices keep to unwritten rules for coverage of certain topics, people or companies. The study also focuses on the levers of influence:

"First comes obstructing access to information," Krum Blagov says. "Politicians who have some authority refuse to give information to hostile media. And vice versa - friendly media are favored through providing insider information. Another lever of influence is the combination of political and administrative pressure. One of the major newspaper groups claimed that during the previous government they went through tax audit, simply because they were critical of the government. The third and very common method is suspension of market access. For example, the mayor of one of the biggest Bulgarian cities threatened the owner of the largest newspaper distribution company that they would lose their newspaper stands if they sold a particular weekly magazine. This same mayor is now member of the new parliament." 

 
The study of Krum Blagov and Orlin Spasov for the first time included owners of media, as well. They in turn complain about pressure exerted by advertisers. In their study the two experts found that in most cases the owners just transferred the influence.

"It think it was extremely useful because such a study had not been conducted before," Orlin Spasov says. "Previous studies focused on other specific aspects of influence on the media environment, for example how PR agencies influence media, but this is the most complex study so far. That is why I think the results are very interesting and indicative of what is currently happening in Bulgarian media." 
 
The study was presented at the backdrop of yet another drop of Bulgaria in the freedom of expression chart of Reporters without Borders. This country places on the hundredth position and is on the last place among all EU Member States. Head of the European Commission Representation in Sofia Ognian Zlatev, who has studied media regulation and freedom of expression in the countries of Eastern Europe for a long time, said that Bulgaria could not rely on international pressure in order to create high-quality media market.

"Taking a look at the different rankings of major international organizations that deal with freedom of speech, we see Bulgarian media are considered increasingly dependent and unprofessional; they do not perform their basic functions to inform and educate society, but have rather turned to entertainment or deliberate promotion of certain ideas of their owners, who in most cases remain shadowy and obscure figures.”

English: Alexander Markov