EKIP– Expert Club for Economics and Politics A Different Opinion
In recent days, Prime Minister Boyko Borissov, the proxy media and GERB proxy analysts have started to promote the thesis that Slavi Trifonov cannot stay on the air if he continues with his political demands. Unsurprisingly, the PIK news agency was one of the most active, with its owner renewing his attacks on Trifonov.
Two logical questions arise here - should a future politician be denied airtime on private television and who will benefit from this?
Should Trifonov be taken off the air?
It is no coincidence that the above question uses a passive voice – it is unlikely that Trifonov himself or even bTV itself would have taken such a step without external pressure. From the showman’s point of view, television broadcasting is both his main business and a lever for influencing potential voters. From the television’s point of view, this continues to remain the highest-rated evening show on Bulgarian airwaves. Proof of both is the successful petition for the referendum, which collected over 600,000 signatures or 10% of the country’s population.
On the other hand, Boyko Borisov himself has said outright that a future politician cannot also be a TV show host. Although this seems logical at first glance, the question inevitably arises: "Why can't he?"
bTV is not only a private television station, but "Slavi's Show" is also an external production - that is, it uses entirely private resources. If a significant influence on public opinion has been achieved through this private resource, then this speaks well of its managers.
By the same logic, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Clint Eastwood should be banned from acting in films, since the former was the governor of California, and the latter – the mayor of a city in the same state. And TV hosts such as John Oliver, Jon Stewart, Jimmy Fallon, Stephen Colbert, etc. should be directly removed from the air, due to their open not only political, but also partisan biases and the purposeful use of the air for political propaganda. Absolutely all of the listed TV hosts have been waging an open media war against Donald Trump – the most likely nominee of the Republican Party for the Presidential Election in November 2016.
In fact, using private media for political purposes is not necessarily successful. If we look again at the US, we will see that the entire media front against Donald Trump not only fails to stop him, but even attracts more supporters to his camp. Some of the TV hosts (like Megyn Kelly) are suffering a huge drop in their ratings as a result of their open political positions.
In short, there is absolutely no institutional or democratic reason for Trifonov to be removed from a completely private broadcast under pressure from state authorities, for the sole reason that the show expresses political positions.
Who will win if Trifonov is taken off the air?
Even if there is no institutional or democratic reason for taking him off the air, the likelihood of this happening is huge. Bulgaria ranks an unenviable 113th out of 180 countries in the press freedom index, placing us deep among Third World countries and showing extremely huge and systematic pressure from the state authorities on the media. It is hardly difficult to imagine how the general director of bTV receives a call from a representative of the ruling coalition and is “convinced” not to renew Trifonov’s contract this fall.
Although removing the political opponent from the airwaves seems to be in the interest of the ruling majority and has even been openly stated as an expectation by Prime Minister Borissov and the media and influencers gravitating around GERB, it is unlikely to lead to the result they expect. The reason is simple - Slavi Trifonov's potential voters do not vote "for" him as much as against the ruling party.
If he is taken off the air at bTV and is not accepted at NOVA, Trifonov will reorient himself to one of the smaller television stations with a national reach – as he did with "Hushove" in 1998. Analogous to the case during the government of Ivan Kostov, Trifonov will once again acquire the image of a rebel repressed by the political status quo, who has the legitimacy to speak on behalf of all those who are dissatisfied. However, unlike the late 1990s, today the showman will be able to channel this legitimacy into political support, and hence into an election result.
Or again, in short, removing Slavi Trifonov from the air of bTV will be exclusively and solely to his political advantage, legitimizing him as the only anti-GERB political player and channeling a huge share of the protest vote to him.
Are you setting an example with this scoundrel Stanislav? And first of all, the above-listed American comedians with shows are all Democrats, i.e. latent communists. And you were right-wing media.
The problem is completely different, which is not touched upon in the article at all. If Trifonov hosts a journalistic show, he would be obliged to give alternative points of view. But because it is a "show" - is he not obliged? This is simply like buying time for public manipulation, no matter in what direction.
In practice, the "yes" answers to the Referendum were promoted for 3 years! Not once was an alternative point of view allowed.
Let Trifonov choose what he wants to do - a political journalistic program, or a show. In this form, this must be stopped.