Journalist

The report, Fighting Words: Journalism Under Assault in Central and Eastern Europe, issued on Wednesday by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism and the University of Oxford evaluates the situation of the media in the region by drawing on interviews with about a hundred journalists in 16 countries during 2019.

Journalists' deaths are at "historically low levels" globally, according to a report by Reporters Without Borders, quoted by AFP.

Most journalists killed in 2019 covered military conflicts in Yemen, Syria and Afghanistan, say the Paris-based organization and recall that journalism remains a dangerous profession.

Freedom of speech in Bulgaria in 2018 has diminished, and this reflects the overall weakness of the rule of law and, among a number of other factors, the fact that laws are applied selectively and there are people with political protection against persecution.

At least 95 journalists were killed last year during the course of their work, according to the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), quoted by BGNES.

The highest number of media deaths recorded was 155 in 2006.

Bulgaria remains at 111th place in media freedom. This was made clear by the annual Freedom of the Press Index, announced by the international non-governmental organization Reporters Without Borders.

The organization said this in a press release issued after "a wide-ranging discussion with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic at the presidential palace in Belgrade" on Monday, and added:

The bomb attack that shook the headquarters of Skai TV and Kathimerini in the early hours of Monday may have been distressing and deplorable, but it certainly wasn't an isolated incident.

It featured the picture of a growling dog and covers of certain domestic printed media and the heading "The Hounds Are Unleashed," Beta agency reported.

The Association of European Journalists - Bulgaria, AEJ, has launched a campaign to grant symbolic press badges to 95 jailed Turkish reporters in time for the planned EU-Turkey summit in Varna on 26 March.

A total of 65 journalists were killed on the planet in 2017 - 50 professionals, 7 "civil journalists" (bloggers) and 8 "media collaborators". This shows an annual report of Reporters Without Borders published today. This is the year with the lowest number of deaths among professional journalists in 14 years, says the Paris-based non-governmental organization.