ABSTRACT
Media freedom has steadily deteriorated in Bulgaria, where a complex cultural discourse blends with professional journalism values and norms lingering from a communist past and the post-Cold War democratization process. Based on interviews with journalists from national media outlets, this chapter explores Bulgarian journalists’ beliefs and attitudes about post-communist media transformation. It focuses on their perceptions of government, corporate, and self-censorship, which have become widespread since the early 1990s. It also evaluates the detrimental impact of these forms of censorship on everyday journalistic practice and media freedom, including interference by media owners and political forces to coerce journalists into self-censorship and avoidance of controversial topics.
