Media corruption and issues of journalistic and institutional integrity in post-communist countries: The case of Bulgaria

Abstract

From a normative standpoint the media are usually seen as one of the pillars of a national integrity system, entrusted with the tasks of exposing and preventing acts of corruption and educating the public of the harm caused by corruption. Nevertheless, corruption continues to be one of the most significant challenges that Europe faces, undermining citizens' trust in democratic institutions and weakening the accountability of political leadership. Evidence suggests that in fragile EU democracies such as Bulgaria, despite more than eight years of full membership and numerous preventive measures, corruption is rife and the press is hardly capable of exposing abuses of power or authority. On the contrary - drawing on in-depth interviews with 35 Bulgarian journalists - this paper argues that since communism collapsed in the late 1980s the media in post-communist societies such as Bulgaria has gradually become an instrument to promote and defend private vested interests, and is plagued by corruption. Senior journalists and editors cast serious doubt over the ability of the post-communist free press and journalism to act as a watchdog for society.

The impact of the economic crisis on media corruption: A comparative study in South and North Europe

“…Traditionally, the issue of media corruption in Europe has been examined in relation to indirect government control over the media (e.g., in West European democracies) and direct government control over the media (e.g., in former Communist countries in Eastern and Central Europe) (Price, 2019;Pring, 2016). However, in the aftermath of the Great Recession in 2007, the notion of corruption has been revisited in regards to western democratic states.…”

The role of citizen journalism in society: An analysis based on foreign theory and Kazakhstani experience

“…So, Groshek and Tandoc (2017, p. 202), examining the effect of covering controversial political issues based on an analysis of tweets on the “Twitter” social network, note that “outdated news organisations were present in the discussion in a much smaller amount compared to representatives of alternative media.” At the same time, researchers have noted the global problem of traditional media related to their corruption. On this occasion, Trifonova-Price (2019, p. 118) writes in their study: From a normative point of view, the media are usually considered as one of the pillars of the national integrity system, which is charged with identifying and preventing acts of corruption and educating the public about the harm caused by corruption. Nevertheless, corruption not only in public institutions, but also in the media itself continues to be one of the most serious problems that Europe faces, undermining citizens’ trust in democratic institutions and weakening the responsibility of the political leadership.…”

Exploring Social Media Knowledge as a Means for Fighting Corruption in CEE Countries

“…Indeed, Social media knowledge has propelled civil society to ensure accountability of the ruling class. Most importantly, the freedom of press in the post-communist era enabled the fight of corruption as evidenced by empirical research of Price (2019). Despite the historical and socio-economic connections within the CEE countries, research at various levels has been scanty on media usage at various levels (Burlacioiu, Boboc and Sava, 2018).…”