Activity Details (ID# 8989)

Activity Synopsis

The aim of the meeting was to present the draft of a new law on radio and television prepared by representatives of the Bulgarian Media Coalition to all interested parties in Bulgaria, so as to ascertain their views on this text. A related objective in this context was to review the draft from the point of view of its compatibility with the relevant Council of Europe standards, as defined in particular in the European Convention on Transfrontier Television and various Committee of Ministers Recommendations on the media.

 

The meeting was well organised and was covered by many Bulgarian media, which publicised a number of interviews and reports on the discussions.

Regarding the substance of theses discussions, while sharing and supporting the objectives of the draft, the Council of Europe experts made a large number of comments on the text prepared by the Bulgarian Media Coalition. These comments concerned, in particular, the too vague and too narrow remit of National Bulgarian Television (BNT) and Bulgarian National Radio (BNR), the excessive number of governing and supervisory organs of BNT and BNR foreseen in the draft, which would be seriously detrimental to the operation of these public broadcasting organisations in a highly competitive environment where quick decisions have to be taken frequently.

Other comments by the experts concerned the lack of precision of a number of provisions in the draft (concerning for example the coverage of elections by the electronic media, the operation of the Radio and Television Fund which would be created under the new law, the possibility of establishing private public service broadcasters which could later be transformed into commercial operators or the establishment of a so-called “general licence” under which certain broadcasters would only be registered and not licensed) and the possible abuses that may result from this.

Concerns were also expressed about the extensive period foreseen for the allocation of licences to commercial broadcasters (15 years with a possibility to extend the licences to 25 year), which may be detrimental to competition and pluralism in the broadcasting sector.

Similarly, while understanding the wish to exercise public control over the activities of the regulatory authority for the electronic media (the Electronic Media Council - EMC), the Council of Europe experts expressed reservations about the idea of creating a so-called “Public Council” which would supervise the EMC, as it would be likely that the Public Council would try to transform itself into a super-regulator which would supercede the EMC.

Finally, it was noted that the provision of the draft concerning freedom of reception and retransmission of foreign programme services and the possibility of limiting this freedom was not in line with Article 4 of the European Convention on Transfrontier Television.

Owing to lack of time, the experts were not able to present other comments.

 

Following the comments made by the Council of Europe experts, many participants in the meeting intervened, regretting the lack of transparency in the preparation of the draft and commenting on the substance of the text. At the end of the discussion, the President of the Bulgarian Media Coalition indicated that a working group involving all interested parties would soon be created in order to further the preparation of the text, with a view to its submission to the Bulgarian National assembly at its next session after the summer. The Council of Europe exerts were asked to continue to provide their assistance in this context. 

Parliamentarians, representatives of the private and public electronic media, representatives of the Electronic Media Council, media lawyers, representatives of NGOs 

Dr Karol Jakubowicz, Director of the Department of Strategy and Analysis, National Broadcasting Council (Poland)
Professor David Ward, University of Westminster (United Kingdom)
 

Christophe Poirel, Head of Media Division, DG II