Are Donors Anonymous in the Media?

And if they are anonymous, why? These questions were brought up at a discussion held by the Bulgarian Donors’ Forum on 24 April 2014 in Sofia.

Donorship in Bulgaria has grown in recent years both in terms of level of funds donated (137 million leva in 2012) and benefits achieved. It is companies and foundations that are the biggest donors in this country. They invest in social projects and initiatives in healthcare, culture, environmental protection, community yet they often remain anonymous.

Why? According to Maria Stoyanova, member of the Council for Electronic Media, the regulator endorses no sanctions when the media mention the names of companies/foundations in news and other reports on their social initiatives. CEM has sanctioned no media in recent years in this regard. In Stoyanova’s view, if the benefit of the campaign is clear and businesses are involved in a socially beneficial project and this is part of the overall piece of information delivered to the audience, there are no obstacles for the company/foundation to be named.

However, some of the media remain rather skeptical and claim they are extra cautious whenever they report on such projects and initiatives as they believe they could be sanctioned. They find some of CEM’s regulatory papers (The Radio and TV Act, the Methodical Instructions on Banned Hidden Commercial Communication and Product Placement) too open to interpretations and need additional clarification to provide media with the freedom and courage in quoting the names of donors.

To companies and foundations that invest in important community projects media standards in reporting donor campaigns remain rather unclear as is unclear why some media consider it possible and other media apply self sensorship. They also consider double standards the option for sports news to quote the names of donors and the amounts of their donations while the same is not valid for companies or foundations which cannot freely name their donors. Businesses and foundations firmly believe that donorship environment and civic culture grow precisely wherever specific examples and donor stories are told along with the names behind them.

The following took part in the discussion: Daniel Chipev, BNT, Iliyana Nikolova, Workshop for Civic Initiatives Foundation, Kiril Valchev, Darik Radio, Krasimira Krasteva, Nova TV, Lili Marinkova, BNR, Maria Stoyanova,  CEM, Simona Chakrakchieva, Vivacom, Donika Rizova, Bulgaria on Air, Milena Zlatkova, Vitosha Radio, Rosen Misov, Bulgarian Association of Advertisers, Jaqueline Tsocheva, UNICEF, Tsetska Radeva, Maria’s World Foundation, Evgenia Drumeva, Vesti.bg and associations of socially responsible businesses and PR experts.