About the MSI
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IREX designed the MSI to measure the strength and viability of any country’s media sector. The MSI considers all the factors that contribute to a media system—the quality of journalism, effectiveness of management, the legal environment supporting freedom of the press, and more—to arrive at scores on a scale ranging between 0 and 4. These scores represent the strength of the media sector components and can be analyzed over time to chart progress (or regression) within a country. Additionally, countries or regions may be compared to one another. IREX currently conducts the MSI in 80 countries, and produced the first Europe & Eurasia MSI in 2001.
MSI Overview [9] | Africa [10] | Asia [11] | Europe & Eurasia [12] | Middle East & North Africa [13]
MSI Methodology [14]
Download the Complete Bulgaria MSI Chapter (PDF): 2013 [15] | 2012 [16] | 2011 [17] | 2010 [18] | 2009 [19] | 2008 [20] | 2006/7 [21] | 2005 [22] | 2004 [23] | 2003 [24] | 2002 [25] | 2001 [26]
MSI Bulgaria - 2013 Introduction
Overall Country Score: 2.09
The Government of Bulgaria’s suppression of the freedom of speech and the media sector’s lack of transparency in ownership have attracted international attention, prompting warnings that the EU might impose official media freedom monitoring in this member state.A brief media war between the two largest Bulgarian media groups culminated in legal prosecution against the owners of one of the groups and a sudden cease fire, exposing questions about transparency of ownership on both sides.
Furthermore, the ongoing financial crisis has led the media to depend more than ever on government subsidies and advertising, risking the loss of their independence in the process.
Through the turmoil of the last year, the media sector remained a central battleground for the country’s political debates. Protesters condemning Bulgaria’s environmental policies in 2012 also turned against the leading national television stations for what the protesters deemed biased, pro-government coverage. Citizen activists and NGOs have warned of public institutions increasing pressure on people seeking access to information.
Increasingly, citizens tap new media to access information and organize civic action, helped by an increasing number of independent news providers online. Social media tools played an important role in the protests over corruption and high utility prices, and those protests helped defeat Prime Minister Boiko Borisov’s government in February.
The Bulgarian media continued their slow slide away from the levels of sustainability reached in the years before the country’s EU accession. The decline is happening across the board and touches all aspects of the media scene, but is most visible in the areas of editorial and financial independence, professional journalism standards, and the balance of entertainment and information programming. In absolute terms, the 2013 MSI marks a record low since the first MSI study in Bulgaria in 2001, and the trend seems likely to continue. While the digital transition has picked up some speed, and online and public outlets have grown and improved, this progress is marginal compared to the escalating political pressure, corporate control, and disrespect for professional standards in the mainstream media, where the majority of Bulgarian citizens still get most of their information.
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