site.btaCouncil for Electronic Media Monitors Election Coverage Across Broadcasters

The Council for Electronic Media (CEM) conducted a specialized monitoring review of election coverage across 13 linear services operated by public broadcasters Bulgarian National Television (BNT) and Bulgarian National Radio (BNR), 15 linear services of commercial media providers, 14 non-linear services and one video-sharing platform.

The monitoring covered the period from March 20 until the early parliamentary elections on April 19 and was presented during the regulator’s scheduled meeting on Tuesday.

Zornitsa Gyurova, who heads the CEM Directorate for Monitoring and Analysis, said the one-month election campaign intensified only during the final week before the vote. She noted that, once again, there had been no leadership debates between the main political forces.

The report identified a new element in the campaign, the organization of public debates outside traditional media through the independent journalism platform Izvan Efir (Off the Air). Some of that content was later broadcast by monitored linear and non-linear media services.

According to the report, constitutional changes allowing parliament to continue operating during the election campaign enabled the parliamentary floor to be used for campaign rhetoric. As a result, BNR’s "Horizont" service and BNT 1, which broadcast parliamentary sittings live, became platforms for political campaigning outside the editorial control of the public broadcasters.

Key campaign topics included criticism of the oligarchic model of governance, corruption, lack of fair justice and concerns over vote-buying.

The report also noted that equal access to airtime on public media had produced negative effects, with some participants using hate speech and antisemitic rhetoric, prompting referrals to the Central Election Commission and prosecutors.

Monitoring data showed women remained significantly underrepresented in campaign formats. Across seven of the most viewed and monitored media services, men accounted for 88% of participants, and women were 12%.

The report also highlighted media efforts to attract younger audiences through special formats and technological tools, including artificial intelligence, robots, 3D visualizations, and influencers.

During the April 19 election day, CEM referred more than 26 cases to the Central Election Commission, most commonly involving the publication of voting results before the legal 8 pm deadline.

CEM Chair Gabriela Naplatanova said the report will be officially presented on May 14 and submitted to the Central Election Commission in line with the Election Code.