“There is freedom of speech at the BNR and the radio show Politically Incorrect is vivid proof that this is so,” said the Director General of the Bulgarian National Radio Milen Mitev in a comment on the decision of the BNR prorgamme council for an interview with Russian ambassador Eleonora Mitrofanova not to be aired.

He explained that 15 of the council members voted for this decision, and one abstained, and that the motives not to broadcast the pre-recorded interview is “non-compliance with journalistic standards”. “Every media outlet works according to rules, some of which are the editorial standards. The authority which decides whether they have been observed or not is the programme council,” BNR’s director general said. Milen Mitev expressed the hope that as long as he is director general there will be no talk of “shutting down shows because of the things being said in them.”

“I cannot express a categorical position before I know the details of this decision and the reasons for it,” commented on her part Sonya Momchilova, chair of the media watchdog – the Council for Electronic Media. She added that she hoped the question is of observing standards but did not rule out the possibility that “the dreadful, sinister diagnosis – self-censorship”, identified by the Association of European Journalists in a survey, has been spreading.