At the annual conference of the Public Broadcasters International (PBI) — held for the first time in Sofia under the motto “Public media – the power of arguments” — moderators and participants from 24 countries across five continents discussed fundamental issues such as freedom of speech, independence, crises and funding of public media, as well as current topics like attracting young audiences, negotiations with unions, and the Trump-era in America.

“I moderated the ‘Crises’ panel in the conference. The term was understood quite literally – reactions during disasters, terrorism … how to report on a crisis in which society is already living. And most importantly – the public media’s commitment in service of society, of the public interest. People who, for example, have no access to any information, at a moment when the internet stops, all communication channels stop… This key to readiness for action helps ensure the information needs of the population are met. It is not about whether we can sell one or two successful talk-shows, a successful concert… It’s about sustainable funding of the entire mechanism for information accessible to the whole society, in the language that a diverse society understands – in different languages, in different tonality.” — Irina Nedeva, journalist at PBI’s partner organisation.

“What would happen if there were no public media? First of all, large groups of society would not receive media services. Because commercial media, though some of the things they do also have their important significance for society, are still commercial companies that work for profit. Many specialised programmes and broadcasts would simply disappear. The richness and diversity of the media would shrink significantly. In the somewhat longer term, the public debate would suffer severely. At the moment societies are highly polarised, not only in Bulgaria. But if there are no public media, the possibility for meaningful debate will be entirely lost — and that will lead to the erosion of democracy. There are quite a few studies that show strong dependence between trust in public media and all sorts of democratic indices — and trust in the institutions of the state. The stronger a public media, the more people are satisfied with institutions, overall. And democracy is healthier. Unfortunately, this is hard to explain…” — Milen Mitev, Director General of the Bulgarian National Radio (BNR).