Event reports
The discussion focused specially on the creation of a print media law and the necessity of legislative regulation of political advertisement. Until now Bulgaria has not been having a press law of the kind, which each German federal state and many European countries have. For a long time there has been a common fear, that such press law would hinder journalists to do their job and would this way restrict press freedom. Though, more than twenty years after the fall of Communism, one can see, that the market alone cannot guarantee media freedom and pluralism. An insufficient disclosure of ownership relations, restrictions of the neutrality of press distribution and considerable faults in marking paid publications contribute to the constantly raising idea of a press law.
At the conference in the Bulgarian capital, which was organized by the KAS Media program South East Europe and the Bulgarian Foundation Media Democracy, the German attorney Prof. Dr. Johannes Weberling presented the press law of the federal state Brandenburg. The initiator of the course of studies and research ‘media law’ at the Europe University Viadrina emphasized, that in general a press law is not being established in order to regulate the press, but to set a frame and provide the basis, which guarantees press freedom.