From “neighborhood gossip” to “chamomile does not bite”: how an MEP attacked a journalist for his interview in BNR – Bulgaria

© Julia Lazarova

From “neighborhood gossip” to “chamomile does not bite”, so briefly in two of his Facebook posts, the GERB MEP from the joint list with the UDF, Alexander Yordanov, told his interview with the BNR presenter, Silvia Velikova. Yordanov, who was invited to speak on the subject of what happened with the UDF 31 years after the founding of the party (December 7) on the program “Politically Incorrect”, personally attacked Velikova, accusing her of “rudeness”. “who asked questions about” benchmarks. “A few hours after they were posted, Yordanov removed the posts. Dnevnik asked for a comment, but was unable to reach him.

His reaction provoked a position from Velikova’s colleagues from the “Horizon Program”, which says: “We are loyal to our listeners, not the strong of the day … Our style is bold and free journalism, and our corrective is only the truth. “. . They defend their colleague and support her. Velikova herself told Dnevnik that the fact that Yordanov had removed her posts spoke of their “consistency.” “Writing a post with insulting words and then deleting it seems quite in the style of a person with a biography as rich as hers,” Velikova said (from her comment below).

Yordanov’s first state was on Sunday night, a few hours after the interview (quoted by the “Club Z” website, which posted it before it was removed sometime on Monday afternoon):

“I gave an interview to an extremely rude journalist, for whom I am sorry. She repeated some points of reference like a broken gramophone. Her behavior was that of a neighborhood gossip. But there is no way, I respect the national radio and I answer your questions “.

On Monday he added “Chamomile doesn’t bite, it smells!” said the poet. There are journalists who convince us that this is not the case ”.

Alexander Yordanov for UDF: Kostov is guilty

Yordanov, who is a deputy in the Seventh Grand National Assembly and a member of the UDF, obviously does not like the topic of conversation and the questions that Velikova asks him. She constantly interrupts her, sometimes the conversation seems like a monologue and, despite the presenter’s attempts to return the topic of the conversation, Yordanov insults her several times or qualifies her work (“it’s time to ask a smart question”, “do you want early elections “).

According to Yordanov, “the UDF is not a memory, but a political reality.” According to him, the Union has suffered the same fate as all the democratic parties, coalitions and movements created in the former socialist countries after the start of the changes. In the last elections, the UDF has a MEP, that’s me and he has it thanks to listening to the reasonable voice of the European People’s Party and this reasonable voice then told us that it is good that the European elections unite all the right-wing parties of this family. , go to the polls together so as not to waste the votes of the citizens. We ran in the elections with GERB and we have a MEP ”, added Yordanov. Velikova tries to ask him questions, and after some comments in the style of analysis of the right and the ego in him, the journalist asks again about the commitments that Yordanov made to become part of the GERB list, which he has shown a different attitude over the years. .

“It is normal for a political party to have its ups and downs. The main reason for the collapse of the UDF is that in 1997 the broad force that united all people with a democratic mind, this broad spectrum that covered the entire political spectrum in Bulgaria, our La The idea was that in the years to come, when there was democracy in Bulgaria, these parties would give birth to the normal democratic parties that would rule the country, but this did not happen. An important reason was that when Ivan Kostov became president of the coalition of the UDF, “decided to transform it into a party with a single administrative command. Thus he repeated the model of the former communist party, which had outraged the people. From 2001 until today, neither the UDF nor the emerging parties have been able to win the elections, “Yordanov added.

He is also apparently angry at Velikova’s question about her quote about Prime Minister Boyko Borissov some time ago:

Do you still think that Mr Borissov is a “copycat” prime minister? Am I quoting you exactly?

– I have no memory, I may have said this, I have said many things in 30 years. You, if you take them out of context, then it’s pretty cruel. If we are going to discuss the UDF, let’s talk about the UDF.

We are talking about the presence of the UDF on the GERB list, so I ask you about this party.

Velikova’s entire interview with Yordanov – here

© Nadezhda Chipeva, Capital

Silvia Velikova: Yordanov’s behavior was unacceptable on the national air

“I don’t see what infuriated him so much. This is a strongly spoken interview, but an attempt to speak. I wanted to do a monologue, I didn’t want to answer any questions, in some places I was talking about him. To me, this was absolutely unacceptable behavior in the national air “. “Velikova commented to” Club Z “.

He added to Dnevnik that he explained the removal of the posts “with Mr. Yordanov’s” sequence “and which he wanted to talk about in” Politically Incorrect “on Sunday, when asked about his criticism of Boyko Borissov two years before he was Designated for Alexander Yordanov told me that he did not remember calling Borisov “prime minister – mimicry.” Writing a post with insulting words and then deleting it seems in the style of a man with a biography as rich as his, “added the journalist.

Horizont journalists: We don’t ask convenient questions and we don’t work with “benchmarks”

Silvia Velikova’s colleagues supported her with a post signed by the editorial board of the “Horizon” program on Facebook.

“BNR’s Horizon journalists do not ask convenient questions and do not work with ‘benchmarks’. We are loyal to our listeners, not the strong of the day. Our style is bold and free journalism, and our corrective is only the We categorically reject attempts by dissatisfied MEP Alexander Yordanov, who is unhappy with his interview in Politically Incorrect, to discredit presenter Silvia Velikova. To be obedient and shortsighted, we remind you that although in 111th place in terms of freedom of expression , Bulgarian journalism is the watchdog of the public interest, and in our country it rarely coincides with the political one ”.