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BNR Director General: Public service media are now more necessary than ever

An interview with Milen Mitev following his election on the executive board of the EBU
BNR Director General Milen Mitev
Photo: BNR

The director general of the Bulgarian National Radio, Milen Mitev, has been unanimously elected member of the executive board of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). This took place at the 91st regular session of the General Assembly of the EBU held in Geneva on November 30 and December 1. 
For the first time, Bulgaria has a representative in the highest governing body of the EBU. The EBU Governing Board is responsible for the implementation of the EBU's strategy and policies and is made up of EBU member public service media executives. The EBU Governing Board consists of a President, a Vice-President and 9 members. For the first time, it is headed by two women: as president Delphine Ernotte-Cunci, director general of France Télévisions, and the vice president is Cilla Benkö, director general of the Swedish Radio. The remaining members of the executive board are the Directors General of the BBC, the Italian, Swiss, Lithuanian, Ukrainian, Portuguese, Bavarian Public Radio and Television, as well as the director of Vatican Radio.

The election of Milen Mitev is a recognition of the active role of the Bulgarian National Radio, as well as a testimony to the personal commitment of the general director of the BNR to the cause of the development of public media in Europe.

Милен МитевThis is the largest and perhaps the most significant organization of public media in the world, BNR Director General Milen Mitev said in an interview for BNR's Radio Sofia:

"In the situation in which we live in recent years hardly anyone doubts that public service media are now more necessary than ever in that they have the duty and the mission to provide complete, accurate and objective information to their listeners. They have the mission to always seek the truth, and also many other things, such as to promote culture. I think that public service media have always been an indispensable part of a healthy, democratic society," adds Milen Mitev.

The challenges that the public media are facing recently, both nationally and internationally, make their work even more important, Mitev argues.

Being Director General of BNR, Milen Mitev is the first Bulgarian representative in the highest governing body of the European Broadcasting Union - its executive board. It consists of 11 members and its main task is to ensure compliance with the strategic priorities of the union. And another reminder - the General Assembly of the EBU marked the 30th anniversary since the expansion of the EBU to the east. It was as early as 1993 that the EBU accepted members from the former Socialist bloc, much earlier than the European Union. We can say that this organization was very far-sighted and had a long-term perspective, Mitev explains.

"We can say that it was to a large extend due to the EBU that helped us make the transition from a state media to a public service media because we should not forget that there is a very big difference between these two", Mitev says.


Mitev does not hide his excitement to be working "side by side with leading professionals such as the heads of the BBC, of Swiss public radio and television, of the Swedish Radio, of the French television."

"The mandate of the executive board is 2 years. I am coming on the board actually in the middle of its term practice in the middle to replace the director of the Czech TV whose term ended in the Czech Republic. He was vice president of the union, so there was an election for vice president and for a new member. The director of the Swedish Radio became vice-president, and I was elected a member of the Board of Directors. The fact that two people from radio organizations occupy such positions makes me very happy personally, since we know that often radio is overshadowed by television due to the lack of visual images. Recently, there seems to be no doubt that radio and sound as a medium, as a way of communicating with the audience, is becoming more and more important," explains Milen Mitev.

The European Broadcasting Union offers various opportunities for its members, such as the exchange of news, music and content as the BNR is considering the possibilities for collaboration with partners from Western Europe for exchanging content, Milen Mitev explains.

Founded in 1950, the European Broadcasting Union is the largest professional association whose membership consists of 112 public service media from 56 countries in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, as well as 30 associated media organizations from Asia, Africa, North and South America. The Bulgarian National Radio (BNR) and the Bulgarian National Television (BNT) have been full members of the union since January 1, 1993.


Read also:



Based on an interview of Lili Goleminova from BNR's Radio Sofia


English publication by Rositsa Petkova

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