An unwelcome question to Interior Minister Roumen Petkov from Natasha Dimitrova, Bulgarian National Radio’s (BNR) correspondent in Rousse on the Danube, caused a controversy that quickly became a media contretemps.
On January 17, Dimitrova accompanied Petkov on his visit to the Romanian city of Giurgiu, where the minister met his Romanian counterpart Vassile Blaga.
At a post-meeting news conference, Dimitrova asked Petkov about the refusal by Prosecutor-General Boris Velchev to launch an investigation into chief commissioner Zhivko Zhivkov, head of the Chief Directorate Gendarmerie.
Earlier in the month, Petkov had sent a report to the Prosecutor-General’s office alleging that Zhivkov was guilty of malfeasance in office. According to other journalists present, Petkov responded angrily, calling Dimitrova’s question “extremely out of place” and saying that by asking it, Dimitrova was embarrassing Bulgaria in the eyes of the Romanians.
A few days later, Dimitrova received a final warning from BNR director-general Polya Stancheva, saying that Dimitrova’s question had harmed Bulgaria’s image abroad.
This phrasing was seen in some quarters as suggesting that Petkov was behind Stancheva’s warning. Matters became curiouser after Dimitrova received another official letter from Stancheva revoking the first one.
According to Bulgarian language news website Mediapool, Stancheva said that she heard about Dimitrova’s question from Romanian National Radio. BNR had a position of national responsibility, Stancheva told Mediapool.
Dimitrova was from “the province” and was not aware of BNR’s priorities, Stancheva was quoted as saying. She rejected any suggestion that there had been outside interference in BNR’s work. For Stancheva the issue was over, Mediapool said. After the second letter from Stancheva, Dimitrova also considered the issue over, the website said.
But the matter was not regarded as over by Dimitrova’s colleagues on the BNR news programme Horizont.
On February 7, journalists from Horizont and other media in Rousse organised a petition against Petkov’s alleged interference in the work of the media. In a media statement, the journalists said that Petkov’s behaviour, not Dimitrova’s, was an embarrassment to Bulgaria. “Petkov’s words are an example of unacceptable behaviour by a high-ranking state official,” the statement said.
“This was an attempt at restoration of control over the media and although the warning to Dimitrova was withdrawn, we demand that Petkov apologise publicly to the media for his unacceptable behaviour.”
In response to the statement, Petkov sent a fax to BNR saying that neither he nor any other official of his ministry was in the habit of intervening in the management and operation of BNR. Attempts to suggest that Petkov could tell the director of any media how to manage it and what priorities to have were “deeply immoral and incorrect”, Petkov said.
Journalists from BNR’s Horizont issued a separate declaration, demanding an explanation from Stancheva for her “disgraceful behaviour”.
“We think that it is unacceptable for the management of a national and public media such as BNR to give in to any kind of pressure coming from outside and to serve certain interests,” the statement said.
Journalists demanded that Stancheva say what part of Dimitrova’s question had harmed Bulgaria’s image and why Horizont had not been informed about any steps against Dimitrova. “We insist that Stancheva apologise to every reporter of BNR in Bulgaria for her statement that because they were ‘from the province’ they were not acquainted with BNR’s priorities.”
Stancheva said that she had been misquoted, but she apologised saying that she was doing so out of respect for BNR’s correspondents in the country for “they are the backbone of Horizont and I would never dare to call them provincial journalists”.
