Head of Bulgarian Radio ousted for move to silence critics

SOFIA, Bulgaria – A state media regulator is ousting the head of Bulgarian National Radio for switching its main news channel off the air for several hours last month in what was widely seen as an attempt to mute some critical journalists’ voices.

The Council for Electronic Media, a five-member panel, voted unanimously Thursday to dismiss Svetoslav Kostov as director general and picked Anton Mitov, the current chief of the radio’s archive section, as the agency’s interim head.

In its motives the panel said by his “unprecedented” five-hour suspension of broadcasting on Sept. 13, Kostov had violated Bulgarians’ constitutional right to information.