Letter from Sofia: One wonders if many at a recent ceremony in Sofia's Sheraton Hotel for the signing of the new ethical code for Bulgarian journalists were aware of the irony of the president, the prime minister and the speaker of the parliament being present, and the speaker talking of the importance of press freedom in a modern democracy.
The speaker of the parliament, a popular academic lawyer named Prof Ognian Gerdjikov, took the opportunity of being in the company of so many journalists to announce that the signing of the code marked the end of the transition from communism to democracy. A bold statement, especially at a time when Bulgarian police were holding a Romanian journalist, George Buhnici, for using a hidden camera to investigate corruption in the customs and excise.
The BBC is also being investigated by the Bulgarian authorities for using hidden equipment in the making of a documentary on corruption within the Bulgarian Olympic Committee.
The Bulgarian authorities are not the first nor will they be the last to blame the messenger, some might recall Susan O'Keeffe, the journalist who made allegations about corruption in the Irish beef industry and was the only person to end up in a court following the Beef Tribunal.
The Bulgarians, however, are possibly unique in announcing that their society had reached a higher level of democracy just as journalists are being questioned about the methods used to investigate corruption.
At the signing of the code, done with great pomp and ceremony, there were many speeches about the press and its responsibilities, about press freedom but no mention of the investigation into the BBC or the poor Romanian journalist.
The new code does actually cover this sort of situation in that it says hidden cameras and microphones can be used if there is no other means of obtaining the information and if the methods used in gathering the story is made clear to the audience. Buying the Games, the BBC documentary being investigated, made it quite clear that hidden cameras and microphones were used.
We must not be too cynical, the code is a real achievement. In a region noted for the wildest form of the free market, the idea of a code for all the media, signed by the publishers, employers and the trade union is remarkable, and even more so in a part of the world where there are so many competing codes, with every media body, association, group, union having their own code, often formulated with the help of foreign donor money and media NGOs. This code, which covers both print and electronic media, has been negotiated under an EU-funded programme that is working to help develop professional standards in the media. Given the investigation of the BBC's Panorama programme, which accused a member of the Bulgarian Olympic Committee of seeking a bride in return for his vote, it is perhaps serendipitous that the consortium under which the code was developed, is actually led by the BBC. (In the spirit of the code this writer should declare a small interest in that he is involved in a different part of the same project.) The code itself is remarkable in that along with the usual provisions present in all such codes, such as the exhortations to be accurate, defend sources and respect privacy, this code includes such provisions as journalists shall refrain from "glorifying or unnecessarily reporting about crime, violence and brutality"; that publications "shall respect good taste and decency"; that the public has a "right to know who owns and controls media outlets"- an important inclusion in a country where the mafia and corruption are so prevalent.
It also says that those who have signed will "respect the right of individual journalists to refuse assignments, which would break the letter and spirit of this code". If these are adhered to, then Bulgaria's media owners have signed and accepted quite a revolutionary document.
The Bulgarian media has been wild and free and has only recently acknowledged the need for any regulation at all, and that is mainly due to pressure from the EU which Bulgaria is due to join in 2007. There are at least 130 radio stations, 18 TV channels, 200 cable operators and 180 newspapers all chasing a small advertising market, which totals less than €200 million a year. Rupert Murdoch's Balkan News Corporation launched the country's most successful television station, BTV, while the German company, Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitungsgruppe (WAZ) owns the two largest newspapers, 24 Chasa and Trud, accounting for about 80 per cent of the Bulgarian print market.
Meanwhile journalists are often young and inexperienced and, with some exceptions, work without the resources to really investigate the corruption that is rife throughout the country. One report on Bulgaria's media described the output as either bland or overtly sensationalist. Poor pay means journalists accept money or gifts for covering some events and not others, which leads to a blurring of the line between editorial and advertising with a consequential diminishing of public trust in the media.
Now the owners, publishers and journalists have signed up to an ethical code. The next move is the establishment of a press council that will ensure that the code is implemented and adhered to. Much of Europe will watch with interest.