Bulgarian journalists from RFI-Sofia, part of the Radio France International, have protested against a decision of the local media watchdog to rename it and and change its programme parameters. At the beginning of the week the Council of Electronic Media (CEM) approved a proposal that RFI–Sofia is renamed to “Fokus”, apparently making it part of a privately-owned Bulgarian radio network. In this way the regulatory body officially shut down the broadcaster, which has a nineteen-year-old history in the Bulgarian capital and not that big, but very committed audience.

The developments follow the recent sale of RFI–Sofia to a business group from the Bulgarian coastal town of Varna, Vazrazhdane Varna 2009 Association, which initially promised to give its name to the radio and keep unchanged the information and music format of the radio. The price of the deal is said to be no more than 50,000 euros.

Unconfirmed reports say Vazrazhdane Varna 2009 has close links with the controversial Varna bishop Kiril, who made headlines last year over dubious land swaps. The new owner, however, was quick to change the name of the company and its subject of activity to Sofmedia Broadcasting, which inherited the license. The company approached CEM with a request to approve the change of the conditions for the licence and radio activities, replacing its cultural programme with political topics.

The watchdog gave the green light amid speculations about political and economic interests involved. The decision was taken with the votes of all CEM members from the quota of the president. But the CEM decision led to the shutdown of the station and the airing of Fokus radio program instead. The RFI-Sofia web site has also been closed and currently features only a declaration by the new owners Sofmedia Broadcasting. According to it RFI and Fokus radio have common programme plans and values as far as their presence in the Bulgarian media space is concerned.

“This is an attempt to mislead the public and the journalists by changing the specifics and model of work under the disguise of a legal structure,” the declaration of RFI journalists reads. It goes on to slam the approval of the media watchdog, whose mission is “to prevent such underhand dealings”.

“The fast speed at which these developments unfolded and RFI-Sofia turned in to Fokus shows that this is a premeditated operation,” the journalists say. “This spells the end of the news, features and educational programmes, which were included in the previous licence, held by RFI Bulgaria,” said Anna Hadzhieva, CEM member, who voted against the proposal.

The French Ambassador to Sofia, Etienne de Poncins, has expressed concerns over the low price of the sale deal and recalled the efforts of his predecessors to take the radio broadcasts to the bigger cities across Bulgaria such as Plovdiv and Varna, all of which failed.