The Association of European Journalists-Bulgaria (AEJ-Bulgaria) is concerned that the Bulgarian society has been deprived of the opportunity to be objectively informed in order to take its decision on the upcoming national referendum on the development of nuclear energy.  The problems lays in the fact that financial barriers have been applied on the participants in the information campaign in the media. Therefore, AEJ-Bulgaria insists that any paid content in the media regarding the referendum has to be clearly labelled as ”paid advertisement”. (read more…)

The Association of European Journalists – Bulgaria (AEJ – Bulgaria) took a runner-up award Human of the Year 2012 of the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee (BHC) on Monday. The award is dedicated to outstanding contribution to human rights and was presented on Human Rights Day, December 10, during a ceremony in Sofia. (read more…)

AEJ-Bulgaria and a group of Bulgarian journalists demanded from the Vice-President of the European Commission Neelie Kroes her support for sending an expert fact-finding mission for investigation of the threat of monopolization of the Bulgarian media market. Representatives of the  Bulgarian section of AEJ also suggested that the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism, which the EU applies on Bulgaria (and Romania) in regards to the judicial system and fight against corruption, should be extended on the situation with media freedom as well. (read more…)

The Association of European Journalists-Bulgaria has been invited to attend a meeting with Vice-President of the European Commission, Ms Neelie Kroes on Thursday, September 20, in Sofia. (read more…)

To:

Ms Neelie Kroes

Vice-President

European Commission

Open letter from Bulgarian journalists

Dear Ms Kroes,

We, a group of Bulgarian journalists, are expecting with hope your official visit to Sofia. We welcomed with great expectations your statement that you consider press freedom in Bulgaria your personal priority, as well as your intention to follow closely the media situation in the country. We consider it extremely important that you receive first-hand information about the actual conditions under which Bulgarian journalists exercise their profession. Therefore, we would like to ask for a public meeting with you and we hope that you will be able to find the time for such an engagement during your busy program.

The Bulgarian press is a victim of the war between the two unions of Bulgarian publishers. The majority of the media analyses, commentaries and investigations are targeted only at exposing the opponent side and do not serve the interests of the readers themselves. The rare cases of outspokenness among journalists also occur in the context of the above mentioned conflict. The independent voices, raised by journalists with integrity, fall under the attacks of both sides. At the same time, the concentration of media ownership is rising to dangerous levels. (read more…)

The Association of European Journalists – Bulgaria (AEJ-Bulgaria) is deeply concerned about a case of direct pressure applied on the Bulgarian journalist Spas Spassov. (read more…)

The Association of European Journalists – Bulgaria (AEJ) acclaims the concern about media freedom in Bulgaria, expressed by the EU-Commissioner Neelie Kroes. We consider that the engagement of the EU institutions, and the Commission, in particular, with this specific problem, is a positive development.  In this regard, we warmly welcome the public hearing on media freedom, organized by the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) on the 6th of June 2012. AEJ-Bulgaria shares the majority of the concerns, expressed during the discussion.

(read more…)

Three members of the Association of European Journalists-Bulgaria were part of an AEJ delegation to North Cyprus between 16th and 20th of April. The invitation for this came from the local Press Union Basin-Sen. The European journalists’ delegation was formed by representatives of Austria, Bulgaria, Netherlands, Italy, Romania, UK, Turkey, Belgium, France and Spain.

(read more…)

Dimiter Kenarov, Bulgaria, member of AEJ-BULGARIA, is among the top ten journalists selected for the  2012 Balkan Fellowship for Journalistic Excellence. (read more…)