User:Chiara Sighele (OBC)/sandbox

Transparency of media ownership refers to the public availability of accurate, comprehensive and up-to-date information about media ownership structures in order to make possible for media authority and the wider public to ascertain who effectively owns and controls the media. In Bulgaria, various sources point out a concerning deficit in transparency of media ownership. Media Pluralism Monitor 2014 detected a deficit in transparency of media ownership, making very hard to assess market shares, track the political affiliations of media owners. Lack of transparency in State advertising in the press is also a problem.

http://www.rcmediafreedom.eu/Publications/Reports/Bulgaria-Media-Pluralism-Monitor-2014

http://www.rcmediafreedom.eu/Publications/Reports/Report-by-the-CoE-Commissioner-for-Human-Rights-following-his-visit-to-Bulgaria Firstly, media concentration and the lack of transparency severely affect the Bulgarian media landscape. The existing law on competition proves inadequate to regulate media concentration, and information concerning media ownership is not fully accessible nor reliable. Along with this, Bulgarian media are characterised by the prominence of very few owners- oligarchs and even the distribution of news papers resembles a situation of monopoly. As a consequence of this, media have their function to inform people weakened and are turning instead into a tool to fight “ media wars”, where media “conglomerates” reflect the political and economic polarisation present in the country Muižnieks notes how an independent and efficient mechanism to monitor media ownership and concentration, transparency of funding, and the quality of information is missing, while the two existing Codes of Ethics (Ethical Code of the Bulgarian Media and Professional Code of Ethics of the Bulgarian Media) reflect the different interests of different media groups.