The way press freedom influences a society's perception of reality | Vesselin Dimitrov | TEDxAUBG
18/06/2015
Vesselin Dimitrov, journalist and media consultant from Bulgaria, gives a TEDx Talk in which he explains the media landscape in Bulgaria, its problems and how citizens can support media freedom and quality journalism
In this TEDx Talk, Bulgarian journalist Vesselin Dimitrov presents an overview of the main problems affecting the media system in Bulgaria, by focussing in particular on lack of transparency in media ownership, self-censorship, the network of business and political interests influencing media outlets, and the negative impact of advertising - especially by municipalities and ministries - on local media, which are increasingly dependent from local governments. Vesselin also explains how the economic crisis had a huge impact on the media landscape: shrinking budgets gave shady businessmen and politicians a chance to enter the newsrooms of many Bulgarian media.
Finally, Vesselin talks about the way citizens can contribute to change the dramatic situation of Bulgarian media - in other words, how to oppose the “Peevski model” (from the name of the Bulgarian media mogul Delyan Peevski) with what he calls the “We model”, meaning a system in which critical citizens monitor the media, denounce their partiality, and support independent media and grassroots media development.
The speech was given in the framework of TEDxAUBF, the TED Conference held in Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria, in March 2015.
