Bulgaria: Media Capture Monitoring Report 2025

14.11.2025

The report reviews developments regarding media capture in the country in 2025 and examines Bulgaria’s compliance with the European Media Freedom Act (EMFA) since the EU Commission’s regulation entered into full force in August.

It concludes that Bulgaria has made no tangible progress since EMFA came into force. Although a cross-ministerial and institutional working group was previously established and made some initial progress, its suspension stalled much needed reforms. While the Ministry of Culture has said a new working group has been formed to implement EMFA reforms to the Radio and Television Act, no information has been provided about plans for wider implementation of any other Articles of EMFA and the timeline for additional reforms remains unclear.

The report provides detailed recommendations on a variety of measures and policies necessary to address media capture in Bulgaria and create a free, pluralistic and democratic media ecosystem, in line with EMFA provisions.

This report is part of a broader series covering seven other EU countries: Finland, Greece, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Spain. IPI and MJRC will also publish an overview report, summarising major developments across the EU in the past year. The next reports will be published over the following weeks.

These reports are intended as a vital resource for media rights organizations, civil society groups, policymakers, and advocates dedicated to monitoring and fostering media freedom across the EU.

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For more information or media inquiries, please contact:

• Jamie Wiseman, Senior Europe Advocacy Officer – IPI, jwiseman@ipi.media
• Marius Dragomir, Project Editor – MJRC, mdragomir@journalismresearch.org

This report was coordinated by IPI as part of the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR), a Europe-wide mechanism which tracks, monitors and responds to violations of press and media freedom in EU Member States and Candidate Countries.