Council for Electronic Media holds hearings with the candidates for BNT Director General (update)

On June 27 and 28, Bulgaria’s Council for Electronic Media (CEM) holds hearings with the candidates for the post of Director General of the public service broadcaster, the Bulgarian National Television.

The interviews were broadcast live on BNT2 channel and streamed on the BNT news website.

A total of eight candidates were admitted to this stage of the selection procedure.

The interviews with the first 4 candidates TV journalist Sasho Dikov; former Director of the Legal Directorate at the Bulgarian National Radio Irina Velichkova; former sport journalists at BNT, Sasho Yovkov and member of the BNT Management Board, Vassilena Matakeva took place on June 27.

The other four candidates - current BNT Director General, Emil Koshlukov; former head of news and current affairs on Btv, Venelin Petkov; former BNT reporter and currently director of Radio Kardzhali, Krasimir Angelov and associate professor from the Faculty of Journalism and Mass Communication at Sofia University, Svetlana Bozhilova, will be held Tuesday, June 28.

Following the order of the interviews, Sasho Dikov was the first candidate to present his concept on the development of the public service broadcaster.

Sasho Dikov advocated for a complete revision of BNT. Regarding the staffing levels of the broadcaster, he said that a complete dissection of who does what in BNT should be done. He put people in the centre - giving everyone the opportunity to work and prove themselves.

"I think the first thing that needs to be done is the image of BNT. The backbone should be news and current affair. Not current affairs all day, but news and current affairs all day. This is urgent. None of the other candidates can guarantee this freedom and independence. Everyone working at BNT will be given the opportunity to work and show what they can do. As for the key positions - the same will apply", said Sasho Dikov.

Irina Velichkova spoke in favour of restarting BNT. She said she would work for human resource development, transparency of management decisions. She thinks that a children's programming department should be restored and BNT 3 channel should become specialist with a focus on culture.

"It is time for a restart. The professionals at BNT come first. Main priorities - restoring the place and role as a public broadcaster, human resources development. To adopt and respect programming schemes that correspond to the respective profile of the programme. Competitive approach to programming. Self-promotion should become a major factor. Technical equipment should be updated. Investing in the qualifications of journalists and attracting young people. Transparency of management intentions. There is insufficiency of original children's programming. There should be a dedicated children's education programme. BNT 3 should not be a sports channel. There are 8 - 10 channels in Bulgaria, all sports, so there is no point of such a channel of the public media. Sports rights are expensive. The perspective is that BNT 3 will be a specialized channel with a focus on culture – films and concerts. BNT 4 will be a channel with content for the Bulgarians abroad," she said.

Velichkova also said that every director is temporary, BNT is permanent. BNT is a cause.

According to Sasho Yovkov, the public service broadcaster is underfunded and good television is made with money. He proposed a funding formula to avoid dependency.

"The funding of the public media should be through a percentage of the Gross Domestic Product and this should be incorporated in the law. This will deprive politicians from putting pressure on the management. It would also help the television get rid of corporate interests. I would go even further - I would refuse BNT to broadcast advertisements," Sasho Yovkov said.

Vassilena Matakeva said she would work to have investigative journalism, a children's programmes, social issues programmes, sign language translation in all news broadcasts. She put emphasis on digital transformation.

"Priorities for BNT would be building a strategy, increasing investment in people, technological renewal. The tasks: to raise the qualification, to have more media products for young people, for people with disabilities," said Vassilena Matakeva.