Long-time journalist and former director of “News, Current Affairs and Sports“ at bTV Venelin Petkov spoke exclusively to "Darik's Week", after the news became clear that the host of the television's morning block, Maria Tsantsarova, has probably been removed from the air. Venelin Petkov lifted the curtain and revealed the truth about Tsantsarova, bTV, Delyan Peevski and Boyko Borisov and censorship!
„bTV tells us that it has a PR department that has been assigned the impossible mission of sweeping away the consequences of yet another inadequate decision. A prominent figure is being removed from the air, which is against the current needs of society. We have protests and will continue to have them, at this moment the company that owns bTV is going to part with one of its prominent figures. The PR department has the impossible task of controlling a situation that is out of control“, said Venelin Petkov.
„I don't think that Maria Tsantsarova and Zlatimir Yochev were surprises. The campaign in the yellow-brown media to remove Maria Tsantsarova from the screen has been going on for a long time. The ground was being prepared. This is a standard model. It happens every time before any significant removal of a journalist from the air in a major media outlet“, he also said.
“The writings about who gets up and goes to work when – are nothing new. In Maria's case, however, the active event is reduced to nonsense written in the brown media. She was removed from the screen right on Christmas Eve. This is a practice of the company that owns bTV. This happened to me, it happened to colleagues from Slovenia and Slovakia. There is nothing new or unusual in this. This is a sign of something that viewers do not understand. I can explain it. All viewers should know that bTV Media Group is not an independent company that makes independent decisions. Decisions are not made in Sofia, but in Prague, where this company is headquartered. This has been a practice since the time when I was “Director of News, Current Affairs and Sports“ at bTV. Now I am sure that most likely all key decisions, especially who will be a visible figure on air, are made at the company's headquarters in Prague. Here everyone spits on bTV, but the problem is not in bTV, but in the owner of this company and the things and people who are not seen on air“, said Petkov.
“For the headquarters in Prague, removing a presenter from the air is a business decision with business consequences. For the people in Prague, the upheavals that followed this decision are not clear. These people are not fully aware of the situation in Bulgaria. The wave of protests and upheavals since 2012 is not clear to the people in Prague who make the decisions. This decision could lead to upheavals in bTV itself and the viewership of the programs. This decision was not made in Sofia, I am categorical. This decision was also made without taking into account the realities in Bulgaria. This decision is a sign of a relationship between the owners of the company and the people on whom this business depends to run. Whether it is Peevski, Borisov or someone else – I cannot say, but it is a sign of that,” commented Venelin Petkov.
„If Peevski is the person who dictates which business will be successful or can be collapsed. If this is the feeling about Peevski, then yes, there is definitely a feeling about Peevski on bTV.“
„Since I have not been on bTV, I have noticed that there is a collapse of journalism there in the first place. I will not discuss the entertainment shows. From the point of view of journalism – it practically disappeared on bTV and was replaced by infotainment and political propaganda. If Maria Tsantsarova is the face of what is left on bTV, and the media is trying to part with her – this is heartbreaking. If you remove journalism, only the news remains. There are zero original journalistic investigations there. Journalism is not done in a studio environment, but in the field. The last truly strong investigative report on bTV was by Maria Tsantsarova 5 years ago. This is the last serious investigation that was done on bTV“, commented Petkov.
“The last investigation of bTV was in my last months as director and I remember what hardships we went through to get this investigation to see the light of day. The news director is always between a rock and a hard place. He is equal in rank to the directors of sales, program and the legal department. In 2020, all advertising contracts were suspended. Advertising on television stations disappeared. There were layoffs at NOVA, there were none at bTV. The only advertiser at bTV in that brutal year was “Credissimo“. During this investigation, it turned out that “HelpKarma“ and “Credissimo“ were involved. There were emails and at one point it turned out that “HelpKarma“/“Credissimo“ would terminate their advertising contract if the investigation continued. Then there were scandals with the sales director, because that was his job. But for me, the atrocities had to be shown and stopped. Maria's investigation was multi-layered and the executive director had to make a decision. He only wanted it to be legally sound. Maria did it that way, then it was broadcast. This is journalism - an investigation doesn't always have to be political.“
„After I was removed from bTV, a group of people disappeared. Gena Traykova left because she couldn't come to terms with the situation, and Valya Gizdarska was fired. These were the people closest to my position. When I left bTV, I said that winter was coming. They also came to terms with Hekimyan. The winter at bTV has been going on for 5 years. It's heartbreaking what's happening. This is the problem with the winter at bTV, but it's the same story at NOVA. It's the same at BNT, even though BNT is a public television station and is financed by our taxes," said Venelin Petkov.
“The separation between me and bTV was obviously part of the deal for the change of ownership. The moment the deal was concluded, it caused a change at all levels. Executive Director Florian Skala categorically refused to deal with this. One of the first management decisions was the removal of the “Director of News, Current Affairs and Sports“, as well as the “Director of News“. I heard that I would be removed from Monday to Friday and that from Monday the new director would be Anton Hekimyan. That's what happened. Whether you will actively practice journalism and whether you will deal with infotainment - that depends on the media policy. By removing the director who believes in the principles of active journalism - that's a sign. In bTV we see a crippled editorial team that deals only with information and does not provoke a public reaction, which is its role“, commented Venelin Petkov.
“The job of journalists is to actively search for, to bring to light bad practices and violations of the law and for the public to have access to this information in order to draw the appropriate conclusions. This is not there“, is categorical Venelin Petkov.
“Maria Tsantsarova is the last swallow in a crippled editorial team. She showed the owners of this company that what they decided to do should not be done like this. bTV has been a journalistic television station since its inception, which has been renowned as such for years. bTV emerged as the most reliable source of information for Bulgarian citizens. bTV has become something else. It is no longer the television that people are used to being a trusted source of information,“ he said.
“I do not find bias in Maria, because she has a specific and aggressive style, which is also noticeable towards people to whom she is expected to be biased. I do not agree with these statements – she is not biased. She is highly emotional and has a specific style of leading, and this largely determines the great interest in all platforms, not just the airwaves“, commented Venelin Petkov.
“If I had to advise my colleagues, I would not advise them to give interviews anywhere, because they still have contracts with this company. The fact that someone wants to find them and tell three stories will not lead to anything good either for them or for the environment in which we live. The fact that we have a PR announcement is an attempt to justify an inadequate decision by the owners. Everything we see right now has already happened on both NOVA and bTV.“
„Ani Tsolova was removed from NOVA in exactly the same way. It became a joke because they said she would do a lifestyle show. She kept a gentlemanly silence, and later it was found out that she had left television. What happened then at NOVA is the same as what is happening now with Tsantsarova and Yochev. In 2013, Ani Tsolova and Viktor Nikolaev, in an atmosphere of mass protests, in exactly the same way with former Prime Minister Plamen Oresharski, at one point, a day or two after the interview in question, this thing led to the decision then by bTV to remove them from the screen in the midst of a wave of mass protests with the explanation that they were tired and needed a vacation. These people disappeared from the air. This was an impossible task again for a PR department. The same story happens in 5-6 years. We are witnessing the same situation with the same type of people who fulfill their professional mission, do well and for this reason they are removed from the screen. Ani, when she was at NOVA, was also not fired - she was simply removed from the screen. In 2025, exactly the same thing happens with Maria Tsantsarova and Zlatimir Yochev. It is precisely in a situation of protests that the company steps on the same hoe, without realizing what the consequences could be“, said Venelin Petkov.
“Let's not forget that elections are coming and the option of a business transaction such as the sale of bTV or “Yettel“ is not ruled out. We should not rule this out as a possibility“, he also said.
“National televisions do not practice journalism, but information and political PR. Journalists who want to do journalism cannot do this. I was not surprised that bTV covered the protest in front of the building. Kanna Racheva is one of the few colleagues who are in their place. When everyone else is afraid to show their noses, they send their colleague Kanna Racheva. Congratulations to her. At the first protests, there was not a single Bulgarian team with a television camera at the protest. At the second protest, bTV sent Kanna Racheva again to wash their shame away“, said Petkov.
“I miss my profession. Thanks to the behavior of Borisov, Peevski and a few other characters, I and many other people cannot practice our profession, which is important and significant in a society. Who needs another podcast. For me, there is no point in doing a podcast. Working in a journalistic editorial office is important and an expensive occupation. When there are no resources, journalism suffers and cannot be carried out in the way it is done. This is how the reality of cave podcasts remains, where two people stand and talk about the same things at the same microphones – this is the cheap option. Unfortunately, this is what national televisions are becoming“, Venelin Petkov told Bozhidar Rusev.
“I miss my profession. Thanks to the behavior of Borisov, Peevski and a few other characters, I and many other people cannot practice our profession, which is important and significant in a society. Who needs another podcast? For me, there is no point in doing a podcast. Working in a journalistic editorial office is important and an expensive occupation. When there are no resources, journalism suffers and cannot be carried out in the way it is done. This is how the reality of cave podcasts remains, where two people stand and talk about the same things at the same microphones – this is the cheap option. Unfortunately, this is what national televisions are becoming“, Venelin Petkov told Bozhidar Rusev.