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Free Media Tribune Solidarity for Media Freedom
Presentation of the EIMP “Hands off the media!” page 2
The worsening situation of democracy and press freedom in Bulgaria calls for european-wide solidarity! Reporters Without Borders classified Bulgaria as the last EU country on its index of press freedom in 2014, noting « noticeable problems » including threats to independent journalists and police violence towards journalists who report on enduring street protests. Bulgaria has no Media law in force to ensure the accuracy of information in the press and online editions. The Code of Ethics is signed not by journalists, but by media editorials, and only by those who wish to do so. Media owners are often hidden behind offshore companies and bearer shares and often occupy senior government posts. Delian Peevski, Tsvetan Vassilev and Nikolay Barekov are media owners with economic, financial and political power, and they have been at the centre of a controversy which practically led one Bulgarian bank to bankruptcy, dragged a second one in the same direction and brought about the collapse of the government. Media Oligopoly, Economic and Political Power A year ago, dissent condensed around one person, widely seen to represent the precarious state of Bulgarian democracy: the 33-yearold member of the Turkish party and media mogul, Delian Peevski, whose appointment as Chief of the Secret Services of the country first sparked the protests. Coming from a wealthy family, Mr. Peevsky joined the DPS, the Turk-
ish party, as its first non Turkish member. He was fired from his first elected position for attempting to blackmail the director of the Bulgarian state tobacco monopoly but was elected MP from the same party shortly after. Later on, he and his mother bought some of the major newspapers in Bulgaria and created an oligopoly in publishing. In parallel, Peevski acquired the construction company “Vodstroy 98”, which is seen as winning a large number of government contracts, including the construction of the South Stream pipeline. There is strong evidence that Peevski is currently the majority shareholder of the tobacco company Bulgartabac – the former state tobacco monopoly - and owns the distribution chain for newspapers and cigarettes “Lafka”, which closes the cycle of production and marketing of his businesses. In June 2013 , a coalition government with the participation of DPS came to power and Peevski was appointed Head of Secret Services, leading to a large wave of protests
in the country, with citizens associating his name to corrupt practices and lack of morality. Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets. Peevski resigned, but people remained on the streets and protested for one year - until the de facto resignation of the entire coalition government last June. 1 Million Signatures in Europe to Break the Connections between Media - Business - Policy Not surprisingly, since the start of the European Initiative on Media Pluralism, Bulgaria has gathered the most signatures. „We rely on the “healthy” part of the Bulgarian society which already acquired antibodies against media dependence and opacity and is ready to confront the media conglomerates in the country.“ says Lilia Rangelova, coordinator of the European Citizens Initiative for Media Pluralism in Bulgaria.
EUROPEAN CITIZENS INITIATIVE FOR MEDIA PLURALISM Without free, independent, and pluralistic media, citizens are deprived of the possibility to keep power accountable. Corruption and maladimistration prosper, personal business and political interest replace the common good of all, minorities face increasing marginalisation. The deterioration of media pluralism and media freedom in Europe is above all a threat to democracy. The situation of media freedom and pluralism in the European Union is worsening. Some countries, notably Hungary, suffer significant interference of political power aiming to control and direct the media. Some, notably the UK, suffer from problems of excessive concentration leading to undue influence of certain economic groups, notably Murdoch’s media empire, over political processes. Others, as the case particularly in Italy, Bulgaria, and Romania, experience a dangerous overlap of economical, media, and political interests in the hands of the same persons. European institutions have, so far, refrained from taking a strong stance against individual Member States for such deterioration. This hands-off approach has contributed to a negative domino effect, with worsening of legislation in one country indirectly leading to more restrictive moves in another. A Europe-wide civil society initiative to push for a stronger role for European institutions in safeguarding and protecting the independence and pluralism of the media is long overdue. The European Initiative for Media Pluralism brings together nearly one hundred organisations, media, and profession-
al bodies from throughout the continent running a European Citizens Initiative, a new tool of transnational participatory democracy allowing at least one million citizens in at least 7 EU member states to present directly to the European Commission a legislative proposal. We demand of the European Commision to draft a Directive on media pluralism containing: a) effective legislation to avoid concretration of ownership in the media and advertisement sectors; b) guaranteed independence of supervisory bodies from political power; c) definition of conflict of interests to avoid media moguls occupying high political office;
d) monitoring systems to regularly check the health and independence of the media in member states. The Initiative has received a broad support from the cultural, academic, and political world. But most important of all, we aim to mobilise citizens from throughout Europe to stand up and demand that the European institutions show their commitment to fundamental rights and civil liberties, even when member states increasingly fail to do so. For this we need to reach the crucial figure of one million signatures, a number which will allow to open a legislative process at EU level.
HANDS OFF THE MEDIA! Join us and stand up for your rights! You can sign the initiative in person or online: www.mediainitiative.eu
The European Initiative for Media Pluralism organises the #FreeMediaRace
In support of the European Citizens Initiative for Media Pluralism, the #FreeMediaRace, a race that gives individuals and organisations the chance to become the greatest protagonist of press freedom in Europe, by activitating their network and gather signatures, started for one month on July 10! join the race: to join the #FreeMediaRace, all you have to do is register yourself or your organisation at www.freemediarace.eu. We will send you your personal collection link. You can then send that link over your online channels (website, blog, mailing list, twitter, facebook, etc.) to let people know you are in the race! Through your personal link your friends and colleagues will be invited to sign the initiative on the official web page of the European Commission. When they hit the ‘sign’ button, we will al-
locate one point in support of your race. For each person that signs the initiative using your link, you will get one point.
www.mediainitiative.eu.
and the winner is...: To keep things simple: the participants with the most points win the race. We will invite winners in three categories: Individuals and groups of friends, small organisations (<50 co-workers or members), and large organisations (>50) co-workers or members). All winners will be invited to Brussels and given the chance to speak to Members of the European Parliament to ensure this new parliament takes press freedom as serious as we do!
www.freemediarace.eu
more information: for all additional information, write to h.vanmeegdenburg[at]mediainitiative.eu. For more information on the European Initiative for Media Pluralism, please visit
Join it, to win it!
Follow us on: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ECImedia Twitter: https://twitter.com/MediaECI Support the Initiative: www.mediainitiative.eu. And join the race: www.freemediarace.eu