Hendrik Sittig, Head of the KAS Media Programme South East Europe, presented the book on the 13th November at the morning show of the news channel “Horizont” of the Bulgarian National Radio (BNR) and reported about the results of a current KAS opinion poll.
“Media are the fourth pillar of democracy and they play a vital role. After a year of observation, it became clear that the situation of public service media in South East Europe is precarious,” said Hendrik Sittig. Public service media have repeatedly been criticised for being the mouthpiece of the government. Thus, this year on several occasions protests occurred against political interference in reporting and structures of the media. In the beginning of the year, citizens went on the streets in Serbia, Montenegro and Croatia to protest against the – according to them – partisan reporting of public broadcasters. In the fall, a scandal at the BNR followed where for the first time in the history of the channel the broadcasting was stopped for five hours. Sittig explained that the Media Programme is observing these events with critical eyes (see more in our country report). Nevertheless, he was also impressed by the solidarity among BNR journalists which is important for the preservation of independence.
“Public service media need to be a source for serious, reliable and objective reporting. Their tasks are information, education, culture and entertainment and these are also the expectations of the media user. This was one of the results of our opinion poll,” explains Sittig. Furthermore, he pointed out the two main results of the survey: More than two-thirds of media user say that public service media are important for a democratic society. In the same time, almost 65 percent see the public broadcasters under political influence.
In order for public broadcasters to fulfil their task – and this without pressure or political influence – reforms are strongly needed. “Two things are important. Firstly, the selection of supervisory boards which have the task amongst others to select director generals. Secondly, the funding. These are the main elements of independent public service media.” Especially important is that the broadcasting council can act independently. This show the experiences from Germany. It shouldn’t be under political influence or elected by the parliament. Its members shall be a reflection of society and be nominated by important public organisations of the country. Hereby Hendrik Sittig emphasised in the end: “Public Service Media shall not be political pawns!“
The Media Programme wants to give an impetus for possible reforms of public service media in South East Europe with the publication of the book and the opinion poll. Thus, it will observe further the development of public service media in South East Europe. Further projects and events are planned. The book is available as a free download here.
The interview with Hendrik Sittig is online here in Bulgarian language.