The three national media outlets took to the streets in protest

Employees of the Bulgarian National Radio (BNR), Bulgarian National Television (BNT), and the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA) staged a protest today, demanding fair and dignified pay. Journalists, editors, camera operators, directors, technicians, singers, and orchestra musicians from the three public media institutions are calling for a minimum 15% salary increase. The protest was held under the slogan "Work in the media has value."

Journalists from the three media outlets across the country held parallel protests.

“For the first time, the three national public media are out on the streets — not to cover the news, but to protest,” said Lyuboslav Kostov, Chief Economist of the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria (CITUB), and Mario Ninov, Chair of the National Strike Committee of the “Podkrepa” Labor Confederation. “Those who drafted Budget 2025 can be proud of this,” they added sarcastically.

According to Kostov, an additional 14 million BGN (approximately 7.15 million EUR) is required from the state budget to fund the proposed 15% salary increase across the three institutions — just 0.1% of the total national budget.

To highlight the unacceptably low wages, Ninov cited the payslip of a musician in the BNR orchestra with 20 years of service: a gross monthly salary of 1,612 BGN (824 EUR), which amounts to a net pay of less than 1,200 BGN (614 EUR).