A group of Bulgarian journalists announced in open letter to the Minister of Finance Asen Vassilev that refuse admission to the ministry’s briefings and press conferences because of the placed discriminatory conditions for accreditation. Solidarity with the decision The Association of European Journalists – Bulgaria (AEJ), which on June 22 came out with position on the caseaccording to which state institutions do not have the right to arbitrarily restrict journalists’ access to open press conferences.
The letter to Vassilev insists MoF rules to be revised.
“We, the Bulgarian journalists, who signed this letter, we refuse to accredit ourselves for access to the Ministry of Finance, after your decision the institution has introduced disproportionate requirements, which make it difficult and limit access to press conferences and briefings”, says the letter to Asen Vassilev (see below).
On June 22, the security of the Ministry of Finance did not allow a briefing the long-time financial journalist Stefan Antonov with the explanation that access accreditation is being introduced.
According to the rules of Asen Vassilev’s team “only accredited representatives of the media who are engaged in the creation of news and overview commentary-analytical shows and columns with financial and economic themes and regularly provide news and information about the overall activity of the Ministry of Finance and the secondary allocators of budget funds to the department”. The media is required to present “assurance and evidence, that the journalist works in the field of finance and economics, and that the media has a financial and/or economic column”.
According to the signatory journalists, the requirement of specialization of the covering journalists, as well as the conditions for the organization of the media content in financial and economic headings, are unacceptable restrictions that can lead to random decisions to keep out critical voices. Separately, this complicates the work of television teams, which in most cases do not work on a departmental basis.
Journalists agree that the institutions have the right to introduce fair rules for organizing press conferences, related to the number and sequence of asking questions, as well as compliance with ethical standards of conduct. However, institutions should not judge at their own discretion who is a journalist and who is not.
Mediapool published the full text of the letter:
To the Minister of Finance of the Republic of Bulgaria
Mr. Asen Vassilev
OPEN LETTER
Dear Mr. Minister,
We, the Bulgarian journalists who signed this letter, refuse to accredit ourselves for access to the Ministry of Finance, after your decision the institution introduced disproportionate requirements that make it difficult and limit access to press conferences and briefings.
It is the duty of the institutions to ensure transparency and accountability for their activities. The right of citizens to seek and receive information is guaranteed by the Constitution, and the Law on Access to Public Information introduces a ban on discrimination in the provision of information by the public sector and a ban on restricting free competition.
One of the ways to ensure the right to information about the activities of state institutions is through the access of journalists and media to the representatives of these institutions. Journalists must enjoy equal treatment and not be subject to discrimination. Institutions have the right to introduce rules of conduct and access to events with the participation of the media, but these rules must not create unnecessary obstacles, nor leave the impression that their real purpose is to limit access to certain media and their representatives, nor to freelance journalists.
The state has the right and duty to consider measures against disinformation, but these measures must take into account the balance of different rights, so as not to turn into hidden censorship. It is no accident that journalism is not a regulated profession and the state is not charged with the duty to determine who is a journalist and who is not. The media is free to organize its work as it chooses and is not obliged to have certain journalists to cover, for example, the Finance department. The requirement to prove that a journalist is covering this subject is discriminatory. In no way is it forbidden for anyone to work on a single topic and to request and gain access to representatives of an institution whenever and however they see fit. The requirement to provide a letter from an editor-in-chief is also discriminatory against freelance journalists.
The measures that the institutions can take should be aimed at those representatives of the media whose behavior violates the rules during the press conferences, but cannot be a response to the way the work of the institutions is covered. The state does not have the right to deny access to media events that are critical, and the Ministry of Finance is not charged with the duty to fight through administrative restrictions against what it considers to be misinformation.
As we believe that the bureaucratic requirements introduced by the Ministry of Finance could set an unacceptable precedent that would worsen access to information, we declare that we will not submit applications for accreditation until the rules are revised. We also urge the MoF to publish the order introducing these measures so that it can be challenged in court if it is not reversed in the meantime.
July 11, 2023
Tanya Petrova, “Now”
Tsvetelina Sokolova, Mediapool.bg
Tsvetelina Katanska, BNT
Hristo Vodenov, BTA
Dimitar Stoyanov, Bird.bg
Genka Shikerova, journalist
Alexandra Markarian, Offnews.bg
Stefan Antonov, “Voices”
Mila Kisyova, “Now”
Lili Granicka, Mediapool.bg
Svetoslav Metanov, Offnews.bg
Krasen Nikolov, Mediapool.bg
Zarina Vasileva, journalist
Irina Genova, journalist
Miroliuba Benatova, journalist
Mykola Marchenko, “Bivole”
Svetlana (Hristova) Boshov, journalist
Vladimir Hristovski, c. “Telegraph”
Ilia Valkov, journalist
Alexander Shabov, journalist
*The Association of European Journalists-Bulgaria (AEJ-Bulgaria) stands in solidarity with the decision of the undersigned journalists and reminds of your position on the topic of June 22, 2023, which draws attention to the fact that state institutions do not have the right to arbitrarily limit the access of journalists to open press conferences.
2023-07-11 08:13:59
#Journalists #announced #boycott #Asen #Vassilevs #briefings #Ministry #Finance #Mediapool.bg
