NEWS... CLOSE-BY

@ NEWS... CLOSE-BY VYARA ANGELOVA ZHANA POPOVA MARIYA NEYKOVA TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 4 SUMMARIZED DATA 9 GENERAL CONCLUSIONS 30 RECOMMENDATIONS 32 1 T he statement that there is something rotting in our media environment would hardly ring as an outrageous toll. Professional standards are “drowsing” in the drawer of journalist desk, the feeling of freedom is increasingly diminishing, advertising departments are actively shaping the agenda of the media. We are producing media heroes like a tin can factory. We are compassionate in the spread of authorless and sourceless stories: we remain breathless in the embrace of shadowy narrators and propagandists. And at the same time we are standing closer to power than to the audience. We also use the word “crutch”: shock, terror, tragedy. Categorical generalizations help us to illusively overcome the logic of what “is happening”. We are living in a cellophane wrap of stories looking for their peak to turn into lived hysterics. There must be a scandal in the TV set, there must be a shaking temperature generalization in the intonation of speech. If the title does not contain a flash word such as “BOMB” or “BREAKING”, it must end with at least three exclamation marks: “!!!”. We, the media, have become a warm-up, slow, often exclusive “heater” for emotions, without thinking that human heart cannot work at hyper-speed all the time. We are choking the spectator with fast-moving dramas with no end: the inception is sinister, startling, and fearful; a gradual development follows with an inhuman biography of the victim... but there is no end. The end unleashes into sensation of lawlessness. We are living in one epidermal dramaturgy next to another. We are looking even of conformist moral incantations to explain for ourselves and in front of ourselves what we see, without leaving some time to make sense of it. We are looking for being looked at but whether they hear us? Provoked by these social cuts the Association of European Journalists has initiated a study on the dramatization of media contents, thematic diversity and the use of sources in the work of three television channels and five news websites. Some problematic lines of conduct have been analyzed and compared according to the professional standards in the Code of Ethics of Bulgarian Media. The snapshot of the study falls within a temporal interval of three months and covers 3556 journalist publications: news, reportage, and information messages. We thank the team of Mariya Neykova, Zhana Popova and Vyara Angelova who are also the authors of the study “News… Close-by”. In contrast to the trends in the media environment the conclusions in the report offer some free valences to make sense the problems in present-day journalism. That’s why they can serve as a stepping stone to get to solutions. We have come to a situation where the temperature vocabulary of today’s media language serves as a show-polish that helps us to slide even more easily over the downward curve. A curve that has a beginning, state of saturation and epochal fall… until its “scandalous” end. Iliya Valkov, Association of European Journalists 2 T his study takes a snapshot of journalist writing in the most visited media websites in Bulgarian language and the three most popular television channels in the country. The aim is to establish what are the ethical violations most commonly committed in journalist materials, predominantly news. The main quests are linked to establishing the topics on which the journalist devices of increasing the sensationalism of materials and of neglecting the professional standards are being used most often. The researchers are led by the philosophy of the “Code of Ethics of Bulgarian Media” which reflects the general principles of journalist work. The researchers assume that they are generally valid for the ones practicing the profession of journalism irrespective of the fact that the media being studied might not be a party to the code. For the methodology of the study please see the appendix. The authors 3 INTRODUCTION Media freedom has been on the decline on a global level for more than a decade now. This has been recorded and is being followed by a number of world-wide rankings. In this report, we will not, however, refer to the results that are unfavorable for Bulgaria as displayed over the past years by organizations such as Freedom House or Reporters Without Borders. The very manner of communication of these results by Bulgarian media – without contextualization, without explaining the process of how the final ranking has been arrived at – is counterproductive and, logically, has caused the resistance of some analysts. The year 1989 left a number of vacuums in the space occupied by the former Socialist countries, including a vacuum in media theory, which was quickly filled by adopting as our own the Western, mostly Anglo-American and French, theories of media and journalism that have developed since the 1920s. Theoretical and research vacuum of our own, original treatments of our reality is far from being filled, at least in Bulgaria. It is difficult, however, to ascribe this shortage only to the so-called “new democracies”. In their turn, the old democracies with their well-established media scientific schools and substantial professional experience on the world scene saw an opportunity for themselves. If the former “borrowed” the knowledge having already been created and attempted to interiorize it, the others applied it as a base for possible solutions. Thus, we could recall how 4 the present-day Code of Ethics of Bulgarian Media1 was implemented in the Bulgarian environment under BBC’s management. And maybe this became possible before the society as a whole (including the media and the journalists) was mature enough for the need of making its own rules on the media’s functioning, including the self-regulation, too soon after the break-up of the social environment strongly dominated by the ideology of socialism. Otherwise, it is hard to explain why more than 20 years after we are still talking about and fighting for the same thing. Among the shortcomings in analyzing media and journalism is the strongly normative speaking about them: what their condition should be replaces the scrutiny of what it is, whether it can improve, and how. The view of the authors of this report flatly rejects admonishing and pointing a finger at media and journalists as the chief and only culprits for the situation at the present. We are trying to look for the possible answers to the question: Why are today’s media what they are? The influence of the state on Bulgarian media can be sensed along a number of lines. It can be seen in the lack of clarity as to what is permissible and what is not in the meeting of the Chief Prosecutor Sotir Tsatsarov with Sasho Donchev at Georgi Gergov’s office in TsUM2*, which gave rise to the “TsUM-gate”. It can be seen in the lack of clarity among the general public as to who the “special interests” fighting [with one another] among those in power are. Last but not least, it can be sensed in the speech of politicians3. And these are just several of the lines drawn during the three months of the study. The Code was developed within a PHARE program project implemented by a consortium led by BBC World Service Trust. It was adopted in late October 2004 – authors’ note. * a transliteration of Bulgarian abbreviation for “Централен универсален магазин” meaning “Central Department Store” – Translator’s Note. 3 As shown in the Institue of Social Integration’s report “Hate Speech: Problem No. 1 of Refugees in Bulgaria”, available online at: http://www.isibg.org/files/custom/Ezik%20Na%20Omrazata%20May%202017.pdf. 1 5 Bulgarian public stage has become strongly politicized and a lot of divisions have emerged in it: let us take only the following ones: tolerance vs. nationalism, liberal vs. conservative, Russophile vs. Americanophile, pro-EU vs. anti-EU, elite vs. common citizens, support for refugees vs. stigmatizing them as terrorists. These divisions have their own mouthpieces as well. At the same time, when we listen to politicians talking about “national” or “public” interest, we guess what exactly they mean, we try to find out whose “clientelist” interest they disguise by these words. It is as if a great number of present-day Bulgarian politicians do not realize that they must set an example for Bulgarian citizens by their behavior and speaking. Over the past years we have witnessed a serious opposition between two big media groups, let us call them by the names of their owners (or purported owners): Ivo Prokopiev and Delyan Peevski. An influence that is not being studied and that is, in fact, very difficult to be studied. An opposition in which the media are increasingly instrumentalized as an extension of political, economic and judicial power in Bulgaria. It poisons the environment and leads to hardening of each party’s supporters and opponents, it is a situation that cannot produce a constructive discussion on the actually existing problems. Under such conditions, however, there is no way, or it is extremely difficult to fulfill the main purpose proclaimed in the brief preamble of the Code of Ethics of Bulgarian Media: “to respect the right of the general public to receive and disseminate reliable information so that citizens can play an active part under the conditions of transparent democracy”4. 4 Code of Ethics of Bulgarian Media. Available online at: http://mediaethics-bg.org 6 Over the same three-month period the question of journalist solidarity has again been put on the agenda. The case of Vasil Ivanov leaving his job at Nova TV, as far as it has been made clear in public space, as though rather suggests that individual journalists and/or media are tied in networks of economic interests, connections with parties and politicians on local and higher level. The journalistic, including the journalist solidarity, and also the ethical have been lost in this “media scandal”. The non-transparent media ownership is often deduced as one of the serious problems/deficiencies of the environment. It is difficult to trace the politico-economic relations of the owners, and hence their reflection on the freedom of speech. The subject is extremely topical also in relation to the media war on the so-called “fake news”. Various campaigns advise the users of information from websites to be especially watchful of the quality of the news they use and even to “check the sources and the reliability of the information they read”5. However, it is obvious that the matter is not yet on the agenda of the audience if one considers the fact that website lacking the required elements rank on the top in terms of popularity among users. The intermingling of numerous factors influencing the ethical conduct of journalists not only in Bulgaria has been also analyzed abroad. In an up-todate study conducted in Poland it is noted: “In the context of threats to the reliability of the contemporary journalism, two themes are dominating: a political and technological one. It is not politicians or machines who collect the materials and write articles. Big affairs do not crop up every day and they do not affect routine work of the journalist. Experience gained during the many years of working with the media allows us to assume that a journalist, more often than 5 See more at: http://www.mediapool.bg/mediapool-zapochna- kampaniya-za- izoblichavane-nafalshivite- 7 it is commonly believed, is faced with ethical dilemmas and the decisions that he/she finally takes are affected by a number of factors such as requirements of the media corporations, for which the key journalist evaluation […] criterion is the breaking nature of the event and the quantity of materials submitted through the requirements of the environment, finishing with the requirements of the journalist himself.”6. Any real change might come precisely from bringing the results of such inquiries with journalists together with this and similar studies. Thus, the problems can be examined at the same time both from the outside and from the inside and recommendations can be made and actions can be taken, which are within the scope of control of journalists themselves, within the scope of their requirements to their own work: the enhancement of their professionalism. WIECZOREK, Paweł, with Marcelina Szumerasco-author. Ethical Dilemmas in the Work of a Contemporary Journalist and Their Influence on theForm, Contentand Quality of the Media Message. 2012, TheValue of Media –from Challenges to Opportunities], Wydawnictwo Biblos, Krakуw, p. 206. [available online at: http://www.academia.edu/11755028/Ethical_Dilemmas_in_the_Work_of_a_Contemporary_Journalist_and _Their_Influence_on_the_Form_Content_and_Quality_of_the_Media_Message - Translator’s Note] 6 8 SUMMARIZED DATA 35567 texts from eight media for a period of three months have been analyzed in the report. The summarized data reveal some interesting trends. The research team has taken into consideration the limitations of data, both in terns of the media being studied and the texts: up to the top five pieces of news. But before presenting the data we need to focus on some events, which have undoubtedly influenced the final outcome. These are events that have somehow become an object of considerably greater coverage. First among them we put the snap parliamentary election on March 26, 2017. Although the election day was in the end of the second month of the observation the topic of snap elections was presented in almost five hundred texts. One can highlight more events that might have resulted in the creation of more texts during the period: the case with Elena Poptodorva, Bulgaria’s former ambassador to the USA; crimes resulting in death; terrorist attacks abroad: in Stockholm, near the Louvre in Paris, in Saint Petersburg subway, in London; holidays: Easter, and anniversaries. 3 556 texts 8 media 3 months Four texts have not been registered for technical reasons, i.e. a momentary interruption of the internet acess – Authors’ Note. 7 9 Because two different types of media were studied, two different approaches to the measurement of the size/duration of materials have been applied. The ones predominant in the three television channels have duration from 41 seconds to 2 minutes: 448, followed by materials having duration between 2 and 3 minutes: 351; more than 3 minutes: 319; and less than 40 seconds: 214. The distribution of duration for the three television channels is as follows: FEBRUARY MARCH APRIL <40 sec 41 sec<2 min 2 - 3 min >3 min <40 sec 41 sec<2 min 2 - 3 min >3 min <40 sec 41 sec<2 min 2 - 3 min >3 min BNT 15 57 39 29 28 57 38 32 22 51 38 39 bTV 11 33 58 38 26 59 34 36 23 59 33 35 NOVA TV 21 42 32 43 33 55 39 27 35 35 40 40 TOTAL 47 132 129 110 87 171 111 95 80 145 111 114 It could be argued that television channels have an established approach to the size of the news they offer to the audience. As is well-known that short news does not provide an opportunity either for a contextualization of, or for a more thorough talk over a given event, or to state why it matters for the audience, it is important to look at what topics get among the leading five news, and to what extent. 10 But let us first present the hierarchy of texts’ sizes (in number of words) in the websites examined: first come 668 texts of 101 to 200 words, followed by 553 texts of 201 to 300 words; 336 texts of 301-400 words, 222 texts of less than 100, 197 texts of 401-500 words, 91 texts of 501-600 words, 51 texts of 601-700 words, 41 texts of more than 1000 words, 28 texts of 701-800 words, 24 texts of 801-900 words and finally come 11 texts of 901-1000 words. The distribution of text sizes by websites is as follows (only the top four results for each site are shown): FEBRUARY 1. 2. 3. BLITz 39 35 24 (201-300) (101-200) (301-400) BRADVA8* 59 36 24 (101-200) (201-300) (до 100) VESTI9** (201-300) DNES10*** (201-300) Plovdiv 24 (101-200) 40 50 61 34 22 (101-200) (301-400) 34 22 (301-400) (401-500) 34 23 (до 100) (201-300) MARCH 4. По 10 (до 100 и 401-500) 11 (301-400) 19 (401-500) 13 (101-200) 13 (301-400) 1. 2. 52 34 (101-200) (201-300) 3. 21 (301-400) 62 39 23 (101-200) (201-300) (до 100) 41 (201-300) 31 33 (401-500) 42 32 (201-300) (301-400) (301-400) 31 (101-200) 62 39 23 (101-200) (до 100) (201-300) * a transliteration of Bulgarian “брадва” meaning “axe”. – Translator’s Note. ** a transliteration of Bulgarian “вести” meaning “tidings”, “news”. – Translator’s Note. *** a transliteration of Bulgarian “днес” meaning “today”. – Translator’s Note. 11 APRIL 4. 12 (401-500) 17 (301-400) 1. 2. 56 36 (101-200) (201-300) 60 (101-200) 40 (201-300) 27 37 34 (101-200) (301-400) (201-300) 21 (401-500) 13 (301-400) 48 34 (201-300) (101-200) 3. 19 (301-400) 20 (до 100) 20 (101-200) 31 (301-400) 62 38 28 (101-200) (до 100) (201-300) 4. 11 (401-500) 19 (301-400) 16 (401-500) 16 (401-500) 12 (301-400) From the above table it is evident that the websites develop texts of constant size and relatively constant distribution among several predominant sizes. The top position over the three months of small-size texts of 101 to 200 words for two of the websites (Bradva and Plovdiv24) suggests that, on the one hand, these texts rather do not offer contextualization, deduction of links, historical, political, social and others, about the communicated event, and, on the other hand, [suggests] probably the more limited resources of those who prepare them: in terms of number of journalists, finances, equipment, etc. How do the topics that draw the attention of the media over the three months under observation rank? It is no surprise that the snap parliamentary elections top the ranking with 498 of all registered texts (slightly more than 14% of the massif studied). “Domestic Politics” comes next with 435 texts. “Crimes” ranks third with 411 texts, then follow “Disasters and Incidents” with 404 texts, “Economy” with 254 texts, “Social Problems and Conflicts” 161 texts. The high values of the third and fourth indicator are notable in this ranking, and if we unite them, they would be on the top. The death of a schoolgirl from a primary school in Sofia after being kicked as well as the charges brought against a 19-year- old young man for murder of another boy in Borisovata Gradina also fall within the there-month period under observation. 12 Topics that are the focus of media attention 498 texts Snap parliamentary elections texts 161 texts 435 Social Problems and Conflicts Domestic Politics 254 411 texts texts Economy Crimes 404 texts Disasters and Incidents 13 The point, however, is not only the existence of a good many negative events around us but, to a much greater extent, the manner of how they are communicated to us. It is precisely in the period of this study that the following comment appeared: “The others who instill the sense of misfortune and doom are the media. Or at least those that endeavor to follow the tastes and preferences of the “Bulgarian” in order to improve their rating. Like some corpse-gnawers they take pleasure in any crime, any catastrophe, any natural disaster, even in every domestic row when a woman hits her man in the head with the pan. Female reporters shaken with thrill and overexcitement cover on the spot, talk gossip with the neighbors of the affected and inquire passersby on streets and squares asking them: “Who is the guilty one, who bears responsibility?”, even if it is all about snowfall in January. And the respondents, with their eyes wide open in a surge of civil consciousness, answer: “We are the guilty ones, all of us, the society!” Such “news” and “journalist materials” take up a great part of the information broadcasts and because of them often they run out of time left to communicate to us what happens in the parliament, in the Council of Ministers, not to speak of the international political stage”11. “Celebrities” (people being famous one way or another) rank seventh with 151 texts, followed by “Foreign Politics” with 145 texts, “Environment” with 66 texts, and “International Dispute”12“ ranks tenth with 55 texts. The remaining 15 positions are distributed in the groups of 40 and less than 40 texts. “The Myth of the Wretched State of the ‘Bulgarian’” [text in Bulgarian: Митът за окаяното положение на „Българина“]. 25 March 2017. available online at: http://sulla.bg/2017/03/25/3698.html 12 A state of international relations characterized by contrary interests, which has not yet escalated into a violent phase – Authors’ Note. 11 14 INTERNATIONAL DISPUTE EPIDEMICS HEALTH SPORTS CELEBRITIES MEDIA PROTESTS OTHER LEADING THEMATIC AREAS FOOTBALL ECOLOGY TRANSPLANTATIONS FOREIGN POLITICS However, the most numerous are the texts whose topics have not fallen into some of the sub-indicators. There are 582 of them, or 16.4% of the entire massif. These are the accumulations that can be deduced here. Of the stated number of texts, about 170 are dedicated to sports, mostly football. Two more topical areas of greater accumulation are individualized: health/healthcare, including epidemics, transplantations and appointments in the sector: 44 texts, and media-related texts: 30 texts. The media take an interest in themselves, as in this particular period the publications are related mostly to Vasil Ivanov’s departure from Nova TV. In the course of their development the media have learned how to attract the attention of the audience, how to suggest to it what they consider important, and giving greater room/taking more time for topics judged important by the media, providing information about the important topics more often and more consistently, and – for some of the media – running bombastic headlines, are among the ways to do so. Here is the judgment of the media under observation as regards the topics that are important for the general public. 15 In February, the leading topics in BNT are “elections” (28), followed by “crimes” (26); “domestic politics” and “disasters and incidents” rank third with the same number of news pieces: 19 each. The topics falling under the heading “others” are as many as the ones dealing with “elections”: 28. In March, the ranking is as follows: “elections” with 41, “foreign politics” with 16, “crimes” with 15, “terrorism” with 12 (the same number of texts also falls within “others”), “international dispute” and “disasters and incidents” with 11 texts each. March is the month of snap parliamentary elections in Bulgaria and the top rank of this indicator in March and in the preceding month is no surprise. In April, the distribution changes: “domestic politics” is on the top with 25 texts, followed by “social problems and conflicts” with 19, “terrorism” with 15, “economy” with 12. “Others” ranks fifth with 11 texts 13. Among the top five news pieces of BNT, apart from “elections”, the topics of “domestic politics”, “crimes”, “disasters and incidents” and “terrorism” received substantial attention over the three months. In February, at bTV the leading indicator is “crimes” with 40 news pieces, followed by “elections” with 27, “disasters and incidents” with 18, and “domestic politics” with 17 news pieces. For this television channel “others” actually ranks third in the month. In March, the ranking here is also topped by “elections” with 53 texts, followed by “crimes” with 47, the third position is shared by “social problems and conflicts” and “disasters and incidents” with 10 texts each. “Others” has less than ten texts. In April, more topics have garnered considerable attention. “Crimes” ranks first with 27, 13 The ranking of topics in all media takes ointo account the ones having 10 or more publications – Authors’ 16 only in March – the month of elections in Bulgaria. followed by “terrorism” with 18, “economy” with 17,“disasters and incidents” with 13, “domestic politics” and “environment” with 11 texts each, „elections” with 10. The snap parliamentary elections in Bulgaria fade quickly in the news as it is questionable what meaning bTV imparts to the term “news”. In the three months the topic of “crimes” stands out among the top five news: it ranks first in the first and the last months and second in March. One could deliberate over what the purpose of such a catastrophic media agenda is and to what extent it can be offset by the “Good News” program. Logically, the leading indicator in March is “elections”, while it ranks second in the preceding month. “Disasters and incidents” is present in all three months among the top positions. In February, the leading indicator at Nova TV is “domestic politics”: 25, followed, by one news piece less, “disasters and incidents” with 23, “economy” with 22, and “crimes” with 21. 12 news pieces fall under the heading “others”. In March the ranking of topics at Nova TV is also topped by “elections” with 43, followed by “crimes” with 34, then, with one material less, come “disasters and incidents” with 17, and “social problems and conflicts” with 16. This time there are less than ten news pieces in “others”. In April, there are more topics having garnered substantial attention. The leading indicator is “crimes” with 24 texts. “Domestic politics” ranks second with 21 texts, followed by “terrorism” with 15, “environment” with 12, “economy” and “disasters and incidents” with 11 texts each. In fact, “others” ranks third with 19 texts. In all three months “crimes” and “disasters and incidents” rank among the topics with 10 or more materials at Nova TV. “Elections” enters the “top positions”, even ranks first, only in March – the month of elections in 17 Bulgaria. The other two topics of more considerable presence in two of the three months are “domestic politics” and “economy”. In February, the leading indicator at Blitz is “elections” with 35 texts, followed by “celebrities” with 21, “crimes” with 18, and “domestic politics” with 11. Actually, the indicator ranked second is “others” with 32 texts. In March, “elections” ranks first with 36 texts, followed by “celebrities” with 24, and “domestic politics” with 11. If “others” is included, it tops the ranking with 47 texts. In April, “domestic politics” has the lead with 38 texts, followed by “celebrities” with 20, “disasters and incidents” with 11, and “crimes” with 10. The indicator “others” would again top the ranking with the 41 texts falling within its scope, if it is included in the overall ranking. The indicator “elections” ranks first in February and March. However, what is hidden in the texts dedicated to the topic is quite another question. They do not discuss pre-election programs and platforms, the opportunities offered by the party lists and candidates. These texts are dominated by fire against one party formation, “Da, Bulgaria!”14*, against its representatives and other persons associated with it. Alongside, some representatives of the judiciary and the media have been consistently attacked. The topic of “celebrities” constantly ranks second in all three months. This clearly indicates that the gossip, the yellow [journalism] is not alien to the site at all. A lot of texts come under the heading “domestic politics” in all three months as this indicator climbs up to the top of the ranking in April. The other topic that made its way into the accumulation of 10 and more texts in February and April is “crimes”. 18 In February, the indicator “disasters and incidents” ranks first with 34 texts at Bradva, followed by “crimes” with 27, “domestic politics” with 18, “economy” with 11, and “foreign politics” with 5. If we include the indicator “others”, it would rank third with 21 texts. In March, more topics have drawn substantial attention on the part of the medium, thus forming the following ranking: “disasters and incidents” with 33, “crimes” with 24, “domestic politics” with 23, “elections” with 19 (the indicator appears among the top positions only in this month), “celebrities” with 14, and “economy” with 11. In April, the number of topics that have been more substantially covered shrinks again: “disasters and incidents” leads with 47, followed by “domestic politics” with 27, “celebrities” with 17, and “crimes” with 10 (“others” has the same number of publications). In all three months, the greatest number of texts is dedicated to the topic of “disasters”. Also in the three months, the topic of “crimes”, which ranks second in February and in March, garners substantial attention. The third topic that draws the attention of Bradva “domestic politics”. A subsequent study covering a considerably greater amount of the news produced daily could confirm (or reject) whether these data suggest the formation of a signature writing, for instance, the fact that in February and in March the hierarchy of the three largest groups of news is identical: “disasters/incidents”, “crimes”, “domestic politics”. In February, the leading indicator at Vesti is “elections” with 26 texts, followed by “disasters and incidents” with 23 texts, “foreign politics” with 15, and “crimes” with 11. Actually, “others” ranks second with 25 texts. In March, “elections” has the lead with 34 texts, followed by “domestic politics” “disasters and incidents” with 22, “economy” with 21, and “crimes” 20 WEBSITES TELEVISION CHANNELS Leading topics: television channels and online media (in terms of topical accumulations and duration/number of materials) 204 103 more than 10 ... Parliamentary elections 248 Disasters and incidents 232 168 Disasters and incidents Others Domestic politics Parliamentary elections 131 Economy 19 129 Crimes 82 Celebrities 30 29 Foreign politics Social problems and conflicts with 14. In April, “domestic politics” is on the top with 51 texts, followed by “economy” and “disasters and incidents” with 16 texts each, and “terrorism” with 12 texts. If we include “others” with 13 texts, this indicator would outrank “terrorism”. In February, “elections” leads at Dnes with 37 texts, followed by “social problems and conflicts” with 21, and “domestic politics” with 11 texts. “Others” has the same number of texts with the indicator ranked second. In March, the indicator “elections” is on the top, followed by “foreign politics” with 21 texts, “domestic politics” and “social problems and conflicts” with 14 texts each, and “economy” ranks fourth with 11 texts. If we include the indicator “others”, it would rank second with 25 texts. In April, the ranking is topped by “domestic politics” with 38 texts, followed by “foreign politics” and “economy” with 11 texts each, and “disasters and incidents” ranks third with 10 texts. There are 19 texts in “others”, which would thus rank second. In February, the leading indicator at Plovdiv24 is “crimes” with 18 texts, followed by “disasters and incidents” with 13. “Others” includes 72 texts. Probably, this characteristic difference compared to the remaining media is due to the regional nature of the website. In this sub-indicator there is only one topic with accumulation of more than one or two publications: more than one half of the texts are about sports as most of them are dedicated to football: 26. In March, the leading indicator is “economy” with 35 texts (if “others”, in which 46 texts are accumulated, is not included). In this month the share or publications on the topic of football is even greater: they are 32. Then, at a considerable distance, rank “domestic politics” with 15, “disasters and incidents” with 14, and “parliamentary elections” with 12. In April, if we do not include “others” with 54 texts, there are substantial accumulations only on two topics: “disasters and incidents” with 34, and “economy” with 24. Plovdiv24 again pays great attention to 21 football (33 texts of the sub-indicator “others” in the third month as well), especially to Plovdiv teams, which makes us think whether the medium has any relations with a football team for example. The overall distribution of text sizes to topics also shows rather well-established approaches of the media. In the case of television channels, the greatest number of materials by the indicator “elections” (80) falls into the second duration category, i.e. the one from 41 seconds to 2 minutes, followed by the next two duration categories, with 66 and 58 materials, respectively. This raking indicates the significance attached to the topic by the three television channels under observation. The second topic having the greatest accumulation in specific duration categories in television channels is “disasters and incidents”. The greatest number of materials, 42, have duration from 41 seconds to 2 minutes, followed by 32 materials with duration of more than 3 minutes, 29 materials of up to 40 seconds rank third. This is a result that is worthy of being given more thought, of being further researched, with an even more precise tools. Why is this important? Because it would likely turn out to be the leading topic had there been no snap parliamentary elections in this period. “Disasters and incidents” is a topic that arouses a great emotional response whose psychological effect on the audience is the subject matter of analysis by other sciences. There is no other topic (apart from “others”) with accumulation of ten or more materials in any of the duration categories in the case of television channels. 22 In the case of websites there is even greater variety. The topics of greatest accumulation of publications by number of words are: “disasters and incidents” with 131 texts from 101 to 200 words, 67 texts of less than 100 words and 50 texts from 201 to 300 words; “domestic politics” with 77 texts from 201 to 300 words, 60 texts from 101 to 200 words, 50 texts from 301 to 400 words and 45 texts from 401 to 500 words; “elections” with 66 texts from 201 to 300 words, 55 texts from 302 to 400 words, and 47 texts from 101 to 200 words; “economy” with 63 texts from 101 to 200 words, and 42 texts and 26 texts, respectively in the next two text sizes; “crimes” with 62 texts from 101 to 200 words, 47 texts from 201 to 300 words, 20 texts from 301 to 400 words; “celebrities” with 49 texts from 101 to 200 words, 33 texts from 201 to 300 words. Among the other topics with considerable accumulations in a given text size are “foreign politics” with 30 texts from 201 to 300 words, and “social problems and conflicts” with 29 texts in the same size category. THE OVERALL CATASTROPHIC DIRECTION, HOWEVER, SHOULD NOT MAKE US ATTRIBUTE THE SITUATION ONLY AND SOLELY TO THE MEDIA. YES, OF COURSE, THE MEDIA MIGHT HIGHLIGHT SOME ASPECTS OF THE EVENTS, DRAMATIZE, TURN MORE COMMON SCENES INTO SENSATIONS, PROBABLY EVEN ACT UNPROFESSIONALLY BUT THIS SHOULD NOT LEAD US TO IGNORE THE ACTUAL AGENDA. ACCORDING TO ONE OF THE MOST RECENT STUDIES OF THE ATTITUDES OF BULGARIANS15 61% OF THE RESPONDENTS ARE AFRAID OF BECOMING A VICTIM OF SOME KIND OF CRIME. FOR PEOPLE LIVING IN VILLAGES THIS PERCENTAGE IS 66%. THE PERCENTAGE OF RESPONDENTS ANSWERING “I AM NOT AFREAID” VARIES FROM 29% FOR RESIDENTS OF VILLAGES, 30% FOR RESIDENTS OF THE CAPITAL AND DISTRICT CITIES, TO 33% FOR RESIDENTS OF SMALL TOWNS. 25 % OF RESPONDENTS IDENTIFY THEMSELVES AS ONES BELONGING TO PEOPLE LIVING IN GREAT POVERTY, AND 56 % - AS PEOPLE LIVING IN SOME POVERTY. MAYBE THE MEDIA WITH THEIR INSTRUMENTS, SOMETIMES MORE APPROPRIATELY, SOMETIMES NOT QUITE SO, RING THE BELL WHOSE SOUND MUST ATTRACT THE ATTENTION OF THOSE IN POWER? 15 Data from the third part of the study made by Trend Research Center and commissioned by 24 Chassa Daily Newspaper are quoted here. The study was conducted from 2 to 9 February 2017 гamong 1002 adult Bulgarian citizens. It was conducted “face to face” and is representative for the adult population of the country. It is available online at: https://rctrend.bg/project/. 23 Sport tops the “other topic” with nearly 170 publications, among which the undisputed leader with more than 105 texts is football. The second topic that has made its way into the top five news pieces of the media is health, healthcare, including the measles epidemics, protests in the healthcare sector: about 45 texts. The media (the media environment in Bulgaria, fake news, censorship, Vasil Ivanov’s leaving) are the topic in more than 20 publications. The topic of “referendum”, which has two focuses - the referendum organized based on the idea of Slavi Trifonov and the referendum in Turkey – has made its way into ten publications. The topic of the weather has garnered almost the same attention among the top five news of the media being studied. It is notable that the topic of refugees and, more generally, migration, has been covered only in six publications having made their way into the top five news. On information level, the media are led by the events that happen, are event-oriented and it is no surprise that most texts (1592) are dedicated to an event in progress. News pieces related to a current incident, 777, rank second. This is not surprising if we compare this result with the total number of crimes with the man-caused accidents and with natural disasters. Texts that have as their occasion neither an event, nor an incident, rank third: 529. A small part of the texts are directed at the audience as clearly stated user information: 159. Slightly more than 230 texts contain as a secondary purpose the provision of such information. The remaining more than 3100 texts do not have such intention at all. The trustworthiness of information, associated also with the audience’s trust in the media, can be traced through the authorship. An author – a reporter or a correspondent – has been specified in 1205 of all registered texts. 1191 texts fall within the indicator “authorship of the medium”. However, the result “no author” (1112 texts) ranks high and is comparable to these values. 1205 1191 1112 text text медиа text specified author authorship of the medium 24 no author The sub-indicator “authorship of the medium” requires an additional clarification. The prevailing practice of Dnes, for instance, is to write the name of some editor and to place a little portrait photo of him/her in the beginning of the text, and to insert underneath: “[the same name] has worked on this publication”. Although we have assumed that this approach falls within the sub-indicator “authorship of the medium” the practice puts a number of questions related to how the information has been obtained or the extent of editor’s interference in ready materials taken from somewhere else, including foreign media. THE INDICATOR “OTHER MEDIUM” RANKS FIRST AMONG THE SOURCES USED: 968 TIMES, FOLLOWED BY “NEWS AGENCY(IES)”: 400 TIMES. 300 PUBLICATIONS HAVE “NO SOURCE”. The news agencies still have a crucial place in creation of information flows on different levels. The ranking of agencies as sources of information is categorically topped by BTA16* with more than 150 references, followed by Focus with 88, BGNES with 65, PIK with more than 30, Reuters and TASS with 40 each, Agence France-Presse with slightly more than 30, Associated Press with 30, RIA Novosti with 11, and Deutsche Welle Presseagentur with 11 references. This hierarchy can be looked at in different ways. For instance, if we bring together the results of the references to the two Russian state-owned news agencies, TASS and RIA Novosti17, and add to them the results for Interfax and EurAsiaDaily, their group ranks fourth with almost 60 references, ousting PIK to the fifth position. This is the only group of agencies from a single state that makes its way into the Bulgarian news agencies. This group is leading among the foreign agencies, which cannot help but point to its significance in the formation of the flow of foreign news in the Bulgarian media being studied. However, that is not the subject matter of this study and it requires another research approach and method. * A transliteration of Bulgarian abbreviation for “Bulgarian Telegraph Agency” – Translator’s Note. 17 Part of the media group “Russia Today” (“Россия сегодня”) – Authors’ Note. 25 of the flow of foreign news in the Bulgarian media being studied. However, that is not the subject matter of this study and it requires another research approach and method. PRESENTING THE NATURE OF THE INFORMATION SOURCE PUTS ON TOP “STATEMENT/OPINION OF EMPOWERED PERSON/REPRESENTATIVE”: 1353 TIMES. This clearly shows that those in power, the authorities create a great amount of “verbal events” by their speech, or “actual events” by their actions. The media cannot “avoid” such information because a substantial part of their functions is to get their audience, i.e. the voters, familiar with the words and deeds of the ones to whom the voters have delegated the right to govern on their behalf by their votes at the elections. “PUBICATION” RANKS SECOND WITH 957 TIMES. HOWEVER, THE MEDIA “BORROW” INFORMATION NOT ONLY FROM FOREIGN SOURCES, THEY ALSO DO SO FROM ONE ANOTHER. Without digging very deep, this is the most visible in the media that are part of a media group. “Witness Account(s)” is registered 731 times, and some written report, analysis,vsociological survey: 226 times. There are 800 registered instances in the sub-indicator “others”. Who are the “main characters” in the registered publications? “Unorganized people” is the sub-indicator with the greatest accumulation: 1097 instances. We can find a partial explanation for this result by comparing it to the front positions of the indicators “crimes” and “disasters and incidents” in the indicator “topic”. “The Executive” ranks second with 544 instances. This corresponds to the top place of “the Executive” when defining the nature of the source. 26 The sub-indicator “parties, groups expressing other political interests” ranks third, most likely because of the elections in March: 510 instances. Further on, the distribution of substantial accumulations is as follows: “groups expressing other interests (non-political)” with 396, “head of state” with 227, “inanimate” with 218, “the judiciary” with 144, “legislature” with 62. If we include the sub-indicator “others”, it would replace “head of state” on the fifth position. The huge number of events that have been an occasion for publications, are listed in the indicator “on the spot”: 2783 in Bulgaria, and 659 abroad. Which are the countries appearing on the media radar? Turkey tops the ranking with 88 instances. This is not surprising if we take into consideration the preparation for the referendum in Bulgaria’s southern neighbor. Russia and the USA rank second with the same result (66 times each), France ranks third (54), Great Britain ranks fourth (48), Germany ranks fifth (43), and Belgium ranks sixth (35), followed by Sweden (24), outranking Syria (23) by one position, and then follow Poland (17), Italy and Hungary with the same number (16 each), followed by the Netherlands, Romania and Macedonia, also with the same number (14 each), Greece (12) and finally comes Serbia (11). When one attempts to measure the conflict level of publications, the position “absence of conflict” predominates in 1588 of the registered units. “Considerable level of conflict” is marked in 1313 publications, and some degree of conflict, i.e. “to a certain extent” in 635. The essence of the conflict was hard to identify in 1189 instances. As regards the specific purpose what was more interesting for us was the approximation of the position “artificial conflict” (798 times) to the position “actual conflict” (995). 27 1427 text 220 534 text text 607 text 477 149 text text negative positive “Content of high level of human interest” has been identified in 1341 of the registered texts, and content of mid level in 810. In total, this makes up nearly 66% of all texts studied. By “human interest” the team means that an example of a person is used in the text or a “human face” is imposed on a (disputable) matter or problem; that the actor’s personal or intimate life is invaded (here “actor” is used in the sense of the main character in the material); that adjectives or personal portrayals arousing feelings of sympathy, empathy, insult, etc. The texts with insignificant content of “human interest” (266) and the ones with no “human interest” at all (856), combined, are slightly more than 31%18, i.e. more than twice fewer. The results by the criterion “positive/negative” form the following ranking: “obviously negative/adverse news” with 1427 texts has the lead; there are 607neutral materials in which no positive or negative can be identified; the texts in which the information is rather negative or adverse than not rank third: 534; then follow the texts in which there is a balanced mix of negative and positive: 477, followed by the indicator “obviously positive/favorable good news” with 220 texts, and “rather positive and favorable than the opposite” with 149 texts. 12 The result is complemented to 100% by texts to which this indicator cannot be referred – authors’ note. 28 THE PREDOMINANCE OF PUBLICATIONS IN THE “NEGATIVE, ADVERSE” KEY IS RATHER A COMBiNATION OF ACTUALLY BAD NEWS AND ADDITIONAL IMPORT OF NEGATIVE CONNOTATIONS BY THE AUTHORS OF NEWS PIECES. THIS POSES THE QUESTION OF WHETHER THE PURPOSEFUL, InTENTIONAL QUEST FOR THE “GOOD NEWS” IS PART OF THE NATURAL FORMATION OF THE INFOrMATION FLOW OF THE MEDIA. AND IF THIS IS PERCEIVED AS PART OF THE NEWS STRATEGY OF A GIVEN MEDIUM, WHETHER IT DOES NOT LEAD TO A DISTORTION OF THAT VERY SAME FLOW. The indicator of “sensationalism” is intended to get to the quality of the news material that can be defined as “breathtaking”. Whether it is an event/a relationship presented as something so shaking/peace disturbing/remarkable that everyone will pay attention to it, or does it fall within the category of the boring? The indicator is defined rather in the context of how the material is being told by the journalist than by its substance. To put it otherwise, whether the material is an exaggeration, whether it is structured in a sensationalist way or not, what type of adjectives have been used. 1675 of the registered texts are characterized as ones of great sensationalism, 1077 are characterized as ones of low sensationalism and 762 – as ones of moderate sensationalism. 29 GENERAL CONCLUSIONS 1. 3. 2. The decline of media freedom is not a uniquely Bulgarian phenomenon. It can be seen on a global level. The culprits are not only the journalists but the overall economic, social and political environment. Malicious economic-political interdependencies at any levels trace the road for a possible and materializing pressure on the media on the part of those in power, including by way of legislation. The immature political class creates an adverse environment for journalists’ work. The politicians disguise their private interests by talking about “public interest”, and often use hostile speech and aggression. When it gets in the media, their language becomes a socially-acceptable phraseology that destroys the good manners and general cultural base. 4. The opposition of the media over the past years (the ones assumed to be owned by Peevski vs. the Prokopiev’s media) instrumentalizes the media as extensions of the political, economic and judiciary power. It leads to a deprofessionalisation of the journalist guild, self- censorship and overall weakening of professional standards. 5. The hierarchy of the topics in the media being studied is often headed by topics such as crimes, disasters and incidents. The media thus impose a catastrophic agenda of a kind, which causes a high emotional response in the audience and exercise powerful psychological effect on it. 30 It is a well-established practice in the websites, and also in the television channels, to bundle materials by means of sensationalist headlines. Often the sensationalism in the headline forms the sensation that is missing in the material itself. As a whole the headlines, especially in part of the websites, strengthen what is “missing” in the text: the scandalous, the extraordinary, the shocking. 6. 7. By employing different techniques (compilation and unspecified borrowings among them) the websites being studied often multiply the same text. Thus, the successfully functioning myth that there is great media diversity on the internet and numerous authors is practically debunked. It has been registered that the social network Facebook has gained ground more and more steadily as a source of information for the media. Last but not least the reason is in the considerable and consistent use of the social network by persons in power (such as the Prime Minister Boyko Borisov), party leaders (Korneliya Ninova). This leads to the transformation of Facebook into a new, rather corporate-political publicity. The effect of this change will become increasingly visible in the years to come. 8. 9. The cases with the “Shouto na Slavi”19* and Vasil Ivanov at bTV and Nova TV have shown that the media do not have internal rules in place to guarantee an independent editors’ policy as well as the means to apply it. The rules as to when the medium that is responsible for the content being broadcast can intervene in the contents of an external production are unclear; it is also unclear how the relations with the authors in in-house productions are regulated. The internal rules, even if they exist, have not reached the authors in the media. The media often cover the social and political conflicts by alternating statements that do not enter into a direct debate. The insufficieny of discussions profanizes the profession by turning the journalists into mere recorders of events [who] maintain the pretence of a formal pluralism. * A transliteration of Bulagrian „Шоуто на Слави” meaning “Slavi’s Show” – Translator’s Note. 31 RECOMMENDATIONS RECOMMENDATIONS TO THE MEDIA Transparency of media ownership is a special value. There are ways for media owners to respect and appreciate the independence of journalists without harm to their corporate interests. The political and economic independence of media owners is in favor of the quality of journalism. Work can be done at different levels in order to regulate and cast light upon the media ownership. There is great sensitivity about official censorship among the general public and this is favorable for the development of the media themselves. But the sensitivity about self-censorship is an increasingly bigger problem. The low salaries of journalists in quite a few of the publications, the long working hours, the unsettled employment relations, the absence of existing conditions for conceiving their own ideas about how to cover the events, the lack of any discussion whatsoever as regards the quality of journalists’ work, the lack of training and specialization create favorable conditions for turning the authors into copying mechanics of the text in websites that have certain identity but do not specify their authors and owners. It is more than necessary that the media should take a clear position of the media in defense of the citizens and cover the politics precisely through the interests of the citizens and not of the parties. This is a stage not yet attained by the media. The steps towards it are timid and insecure. The media prefer to conform to the formal points-of- view pluralism by means of which everything is being covered and nothing prevails. Equally covered sometimes means equally underestimated. The vulgarization of political process leads to demotivation and demoralization of civil society, which is to no one’s benefit in the future. The creation of clear editorial policies in this sense will be beneficial to the public interest. 32 Media owners could develop mechanisms by means of which to make the public familiar with the attempted interference in their work. Professional unions of publishers and media in Bulgaria react only when they themselves want to exert influence or when there is a monopolist among them. These unions are becoming unions of silence that do not produce policies aiming to change the journalist content, to guarantee the professionalism in the media. Steps need to be made towards media owners’ emancipation from the attempted interference and for the professional unions in the media sector to take their adequate place. The media should work on increasing the signed materials at the expense of anonymous publications. Thus, it will become possible to trace out the medium’s responsibility that it assumes before the audience. RECOMMENDATIONS TO SPOKESPERSONS INSTITUTIONALLY ENGAGED IN THE SOCIETY So far there has been a low threshold for the words and also for the actions of political actors, representatives of institutions, public organizations. The journalists are obliged to cover the irregularities in their speeches leaving the judging and the choosing to their audiences. But this creates conditions for speculations, even anti-human treatment and anti- human speaking. The statutory acts guarantee the individual’s protection against libel, insult and lie. But by their actions or omissions the people who are the main characters on the scene of public speaking create patterns of conduct that cannot be corrected by the journalists although we charge the latter with the function of the Fourth Estate. The journalists cannot be re-educators of people who have taken up the responsibility of being public figures. 33 In situations of crisis when speaking on an issue, the speakers need to have a conscious idea of what panic and embarrassment their speech can lead to. The case with the “cacophony” of statements about the uranium in the water in Haskovo shows that what is necessary is not to leave the journalists judge who tells the truth and who does not but to have the institutions e responsible for the awareness of the general public. RECOMMENDATIONS TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC The quality of media content can become better if the public have high media literacy and know their user rights. This includes the right to obtain reliable and timely information; the right to get a worthy tribune for their views; the right to demand privacy for their personal lives; the right to refuse to be videotaped and/or photographed; the right to response in case of inaccurate or false statement; the right to refuse to participate in a media program, etc. The audience could be useful for the regulation and self-regulation of the media by choosing the quality media content. The entire public bears the responsibility towards the media content. Civil organizations may participate in the nomination of persons to defend the public interest both at the Electronic Media Council and in the specialized Journalist Ethics Commission. More and more often, the public is co-authoring with the media by means of the so-called citizen journalism. However, it must carry the same ethical responsibilities as the professional journalism. Readers’ warnings/letters/videos, etc. should not become a platform for dissemination of insulting, aggressive or libelous information. Thus, the information has a source but remains unverified. 34 RECOMMENDATIONS TO THE JOURNALISTS When the journalists condemn a gioven content on the internet they should not show and disseminate it. The journalists must improve their speaking culture as well as written expression, this to include being more exacting to the choice of words and the usage of the words depending on their meaning. It would be better if the journalists abstain from direct borrowing of another’s’ texts from the internet. Creation of author texts of good quality of speaking and written expression is a sign of respect for the audience. The journalists should gently approach the cases of covering crimes and should take into consideration the presumption of innocence. They must be particularly careful to abstain from public verdicts before the sentences are delivered by the court. 35