site.btaUPDATED BTA Opens National Press Club at Bulgarian Antarctic Base on Livingston Island

The Bulgarian News Agency (BTA) opened a national press club at the Bulgarian Antarctic base on Livingston Island. Attending the event were BTA Director General Kiril Valchev, Bulgarian Ambassador to Argentina Stoyan Mihaylov, the leader of the 32nd Bulgarian Antarctic Expedition, Prof Christo Pimpirev, and the head of the Nikola Vaptsarov Naval Academy in Varna (on the Black Sea), Flotilla Admiral Boyan Mednikarov.

Valchev, for whom this is the third Antarctic expedition, explained that BTA’s press club is housed in a blue container (BTA’s colour) provided free of charge by the Bulgarian Antarcticians. The national press club of Bulgaria’s news agency at the Bulgarian Antarctic base is yet another sign of the Bulgarian State’s serious presence in Antarctica, he noted. 

Prof Pimpirev said: “It is precisely journalists that will show Bulgarians, people from around the globe, that we are here, that we are working, that we are doing world science with our fellow scientists from Europe and the remaining countries.”

Mihaylov said that the press club’s opening is an achievement not only for Bulgarian journalism but also for all Bulgarians, who do not know what is happening over 20,000 km away from their country. This is a unique possibility to show what Bulgarians have achieved, how they have achieved it, at what cost and where Bulgaria is positioned among the other Antarctic nations. Journalists in Antarctica are researchers as well, he noted. 

The press club will provide a comfortable workspace for the media on Livingston Island. All Bulgarian and foreign journalists visiting the Bulgarian Antarctic base will be able to make interviews and news briefings with Bulgarian and foreign researchers in a warm room with tables and benches. 

Valchev noted that in February 2023, the then president of Argentina, Alberto Fernandez, personally announced the opening of a TELAM office at one of the country’s 13 Antarctic bases “to give visibility to all the information related to the white continent”. BTA will follow this example. 

The Bulgarian Antarctic expeditions have a long-standing tradition of participating journalists. During the 2nd Bulgarian Antarctic Expedition of 1993-1994, journalist Simeon Idakiev and cameraman Nikolay Yotov from Bulgarian National Television (BNT) reached King George Island. During the 3rd Bulgarian Antarctic Expedition of 1994-1995, Elena Yoncheva became the first journalist to reach the Bulgarian Antarctic base together with cameraman Nikolay Petrov of BNT. Over the year, more than 30 journalists, cameraman, photographers, and writers have participated in the expeditions.

Following the example of other agencies, BTA is already making its contribution thanks to the free support of the Bulgarian naval research ship Sv Sv Kiril i Metodii and the Bulgarian Antarctic base with the space for the agency’s two national press clubs. BTA also has 30 press clubs across Bulgaria and 6 abroad. 

BTA currently has a correspondent aboard the ship, Emil Granicharov, who sends videos freely accessible by all media both in Bulgaria and around the world through the Bulgaria-Antarctica BTA's Log. During the previous expedition from December 27, 2022 to May 2, 2023, BTA had a correspondent, Daily News Editor Konstantin Karagyozov, who covered the 127-day expedition with text, video and photos during the entire voyage (including across the Atlantic in both directions) and throughout the stay in Antarctica. In June 2023, BTA published in Bulgarian and in English an issue of its LIK magazine "To Antarctica and Back under the Bulgarian Flag" dedicated to the historic expedition.

Valchev also said that a new issue of LIK is being considered, this time in Bulgarian, English, and Spanish. It will be dedicated to the scientific projects of the current expedition, because in that way BTA carries out its mission to popularize Bulgaria by presenting one of its most beautiful faces – that of Bulgarian science.