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The Bulgarian Association of European Journalists sent an open letter to Manfred Weber, parliamentary leader of the European People’s Party (EPP). The letter deals with the behavior of the MEP of the PPE group Alexander Yordanov towards the Bulgarian National Radio journalist Silvia Velikova.
We remind you that in a live interview, Alexander Yordanov refused to answer Silvia Velikova’s questions. Later, in a post on his personal Facebook profile, Yordanov called Velikova an “extremely rude journalist” with the behavior of a “neighborhood gossip”.
“It is inadmissible when a politician cannot face up to the questions posed to him and answer them in essence, without committing himself, attacking the journalist who asks them with insults,” the AEJ letter reads.
We also include the full text of the letter:
“Dear Mr. Weber,
We are writing to you for the inadmissible behavior of the Bulgarian MEP Alexander Yordanov. Mr. Yordanov has allowed himself to carry out unwarranted attacks and insults on the respected Bulgarian National Radio journalist Silvia Velikova. Apparently annoyed by the questions Velikova asked her on her “Politically Incorrect” show on December 6, Yordanov wrote a comment on the social network Facebook, which we consider extremely unworthy. Although the MEP deleted this comment from his profile, many outlets recorded and published screenshots of the text in which he made direct insulting comments about the questions and the personality of the presenter in an attempt to downplay the sharp political themes of the interview.
It is well known that it is the job of journalists to ask questions and of politicians to answer them. The responsibility journalists have to the public forces them to ask difficult and important questions so that voters realize how much a politician justifies their trust.
It is inadmissible, when a politician cannot face up to the questions posed to him and answer them in essence, without committing himself, to insult the journalist who asks them.
And when it comes to a representative of the ruling coalition, as in this case, such behavior can be seen as an attempt to pressure and call on the institutions to subject the journalist in question to repression.
We remind you that this is not the first case in which the journalist Silvia Velikova has been the subject of such an attitude. Last year it was taken off the air by the radio’s previous management, which tried to prevent it from covering the controversial procedure for the election of attorney general. Velikova’s removal from the air sparked protests, a broad international reaction and an unprecedented crisis on the radio, which ended with the replacement of the CEO.
We hope that these actions by a representative of the PPE do not go unnoticed and without authorization from the party leadership. “
Bulgaria
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