site.btaUPDATED At International Broadcasters Conference, President Radev Highlights Central Role of Free Speech in Democratic Societies
President Rumen Radev highlighted the central role of freedom of speech in democratic societies at the opening of the Annual Conference of the Public Broadcasters International (PBI) in Sofia on Tuesday. "There can be no democracy and freedom without freedom of speech and pluralism," Radev said.
The two-day conference is hosted by Bulgarian National Radio. The annual forum is being held in this country for the first time.
The President said: "In today's polarized world, the traditional media are faced with a loss of trust and with doubts about their independence. Public service media are under financial pressure, growing political and corporate influences, and multiple technological challenges."
Radev went on to note: “Journalists, with their moral compass and civic courage, must stand on the front line in the fight against the manipulation of society. They must seek the truth and share it, regardless of whether it is convenient for those in power. They must be able to withstand pressure for silence and censorship, and expose the cases where censorship is presented to us as a ‘filter for falsehood’”, he added.
The President also addressed the issue of the financial independence of public media. “There have been cases where a minister of finance has cut an approved budget simply because he did not like how a public broadcaster portrayed the work of his government,” Radev said. He added that he had witnessed, on more than one occasion, directors-general of public broadcasters waiting outside the finance minister’s office, pleading for their budgets.
“It is critically important for society as a whole to strengthen the role of public media as a guarantor of democracy, as institutions that restore citizens’ trust through professionalism and integrity,” the President continued.
He said that if the media want the people to hear them, they should listen to the voice of the people too. “Media should not merely bow to the loudest voices, but hear the real concerns, fears and hopes of citizens. Real media cannot simply be spectators of society’s problems. They must provoke the search for solutions, inform and educate, and set the standards for the entire media environment.”
/RY/
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