Bulgaria drops again in World Press Freedom index, lowest among EU countries
Bulgaria has dropped yet again in Reporters Without Borders’ annual world press freedom index, falling six places to 106th place out of the 180 countries ranked – and again rating bottom out of all the countries in the European Union.
Bulgaria has fallen in the RSF World Press Freedom index every year since 2007, ironically the same year that it joined the EU.
RSF said that the demonstrations and acts of violence against journalists that marked 2013 in Bulgaria had been followed in 2014 by a wave of panic triggered by wrongdoings in the banking sector.
In response to the public’s loss of confidence in their banks, the government rushed through a law turning the banking sector into a fortress, RSF said.
“The Financial Oversight Commission, a government agency, has in practice been turned into a media cop,” the organisation said.
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(Photo: Griszka Niewiadomski/sxc.hu)