An international meeting of journalists “Economic crisis at an end, media crisis continues. Why?” brought together journalists from the Balkan and the Black Sea region in Varna. At the event, organized by the Union of Bulgarian Journalists, the participants from Bulgaria, Serbia, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine discussed the problems and the challenges in the profession.

At the opening, Jim Boumelha, President of the International Federation of Journalists said:

“The profession of journalist is undergoing a crisis. Every day colleagues fall victim in the line of duty – they are abducted, imprisoned in many countries, and in Northern Iraq – even beheaded. Journalism is a profession for the brave.”

Nadezda Azhgikhina, European Federation of Journalists Vice-President was among the most active participants. Answering a Radio Bulgaria question about the importance of this meeting, she said:

“It would be difficult to describe the importance of this meeting. Unfortunately, journalists from our countries have been meeting only rarely, we are practically strangers, we do not help each other and that, of course, must change. This meeting has shown that we share the same problems.”

Negoslava Stanojevic from Nis, Serbia laid emphasis on the fact that at this meeting, even journalists from Ukraine and Russia found a common language:

“At this meeting we learnt many and interesting things about the position journalists are in. We adopted a declaration, calling for more attention to our profession, because it is undergoing a crisis that is not just in the material sphere. Sometimes the lives of the journalists themselves are in jeopardy.”

After hearing out the discussions, Yavuz Gerçekçi, chair of the Association of Journalists in Mudanya, Turkey said:

“We ascertained that the problems our colleagues are discussing here are the same problems we, in Turkey have. One of the major problems put to discussion was that the Internet has been developing as a faster form of mass media than radio or television.”

Yuriy Rabotin, chair of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine said he had visited Bulgaria 30-40 years ago and that, as always, the country was most hospitable. As to the meeting:

“The conference was a very high-level event. The general conclusion was that we must uphold the interests of our profession. Each one of us has a great deal of experience in the media and that is what unites us. This is the first time Ukraine is taking part in such a conference.”

Bulgarian Union of Journalists president Snezhana Todorova, who hosted the event:

“The best thing that came out of this conference was the fact that we proved we are capable of rallying round and that the problems we, journalists in Bulgaria face are not so different from the problems of our colleagues from the Balkan countries and the Black Sea region. Of course we are all very worried by the deteriorating media environment, by the spreading processes that are affecting the media and ultimately – the information that reaches the public, because our job as journalists is to work in the interest of society and for society. We are very worried by the monopolization of the media market, the lack of transparency regarding ownership of the media, the attempts by different corporate groups to exert pressure and all this is taking its toll on the work of journalists.”

English version: Milena Daynova