site.btaUnion Lobbies for Legislative Protection of Bulgarian Journalists' Rights

Back since 2016, the Union of Bulgarian Journalists (UBJ) has been drafting proposals to initiate legislation protecting journalists' rights and media freedom, said UBJ Managing Board President Snezhana Todorova.

She spoke at a discussion on the future of regional news, co-organized by BTA and the Council for Electronic Media at the BTA National Press Club here on Thursday. "This is not the first time we are holding a discussion on regional media," she added.

"We can't speak that we want the media to be free if journalists who work at the media are not protected," Todorova argued. She noted that, according to the UBJ proposals, assaulting a journalist would be treated as a criminal offence.

She reported that since 2017 the Union has been tabling its proposals in each parliament, but so far they have been ignored. 

"I can assure you that we are updating the proposals and will re-submit them. And I do hope that in this Parliament, with 12 journalists as MPs, our proposals will have a different fate," the UBJ head said.