New press freedom ranking: Setback instead of progress in South East Europe

Spahr: "EU enlargement is only successful with free reporting"

In six South East European countries, media freedom is under stronger pressure than before. Only three countries made progress; one country has kept its rank: This is the result of the press freedom ranking of the NGO "Reporters Without Borders" (RWB). Romania and Serbia achieved the best scores (ranks 49 and 59 out of 180 countries). Macedonia and Bulgaria are the worst performing countries (rank 118 and 113), according to RWB.

Europe can Succeed

Article by Dr. Hans-Gert Pöttering, President of the European Parliament ret., Chairman of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation and Prof. Philip Dimitrov, Justice at the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Bulgaria, Prime Minister of the Republic of Bulgaria ret., published in the Bulgarian weekly "Capital" on 16th April 2016.

Who rules the internet?

New analysis of internet service providers (summary)

Although the internet is public in its nature, its infrastructural and technical requirements (e.g. cables) are in the hands of privately owned companies, the Internet Service Providers (ISPs).

Award for Outstanding Merits in Investigative Journalism 2016

Call for proposals is open

The Central European Initiative (CEI) and the South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO), in special partnership with the Media Program South East Europe of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS), have opened the Call for Applications 2016 of the CEI SEEMO Award for Outstanding Merits in Investigative Journalism. The Call is divided into two categories: "Professional journalists" (4.000 EUR) and "Young professional journalists" (1.000 EUR).

Independent media initiatives and projects in South East Europe

It is not easy for journalists to work independently in South East Europe. From a legal perspective, they are free, but in practice their work is restricted due to non-transparent ownership structures of media outlets, monopolies in distribution, external pressure from political and economic stakeholders, and self-censorship.

Bulgarian media cannot overcome crisis of confidence

KAS Survey: Citizens Remain Critical of the Media and Political Communication

Two thirds of Bulgarians (65 percent) do not think that the media are independent. Some are undecided. Only 12 percent believe reporting is free. This is the worst value for three years, according to a study commissioned by the KAS Media Program South East Europe. Citizens feel they are similarly inadequately informed by politicians. 67 percent take a generally negative view of their communications with the public. A representative sample of 1000 of the population aged 18 and over was questioned.

Interview: Promoting European values and standards in the media

Christian Spahr, Head of the KAS Media Program South East Europe, explained the activities of his Sofia-based office in a scientific interview.

Reporting about the past

Recommendations of a KAS Task Force

During political system change and for coming to terms with conflicts, media are the most important mediators. They should help with making the past more transparent, in order to support the transition to democracy.

Experts criticise local elections campaign

The Foundation Media Democracy (FMD) has carried out a monitoring on the political reporting in Bulgaria in cooperation with the Media Program South East Europe of Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung. The occasion was the local elections in Bulgaria.

"We work with motivated journalists"

KAS expert Christian Spahr in an interview with German public broadcaster RBB

The Head of the KAS Media Program South East Europe, Christian Spahr, and KAS partner Oliver Vujović from the South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO) spoke about media freedom in the South East European countries with "Medienmagazin" of the German public broadcaster "Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg" (rbb). The interviews were conducted within the South East Europe Media Forum (SEEMF) that took place on 5 and 6 November in Bucharest.