site.btaBTA to Open National Press Club in Troyan, Its Fifth in Town that Is Not Regional Capital

Troyan will be the fifth town that is not a regional capital and that will have a Bulgarian News Agency (BTA) a National Press Club, said BTA Director General Kiril Valchev on Wednesday. The opening will be held on October 14, the holiday of Troyan.

For this purpose, Valchev and Troyan Mayor Donka Mihaylova signed a contract for the provision of space by the Municipality for the opening of a correspondent bureau in the city. After the signing of the contract, Valchev officially received the keys to the premises where the new press club will be located.

"After BTA opened a national press club on Montana's Holy Spirit holiday in the northwestern town, the news agency now has correspondent offices, homes of journalism, in all regional cities in the country. The development of the correspondent network of BTA, which began in the middle of the last century, continues with strengthening in three directions: temporal, territorial and thematic development," said Valchev. The other non-regional cities with BTA press clubs are Kazanlak, Petrich, Samokov and Svishtov.

"This is a chance for what is happening in Troyan to reach the national media in the fastest way possible and for Troyan to become an even more popular tourist destination and centre of important events," said Mihailova.

Valchev pointed out that several criteria are taken into account when deciding where BTA should open permanent correspondent offices with national press clubs, or have only non-permanent correspondents (so-called stringers). One of the criteria is that the population in the municipality should be over 15,000 people. An assessment of the economic, touristic and cultural-historical importance of the city is also made, as well as an assessment of the remoteness and road connectivity with the regional city. 

"When applying these criteria, the territorial development of the correspondent network of BTA will be in the direction of maintaining permanent correspondent offices with national press clubs in about half of the 20 Bulgarian non-regional cities with over 15,000 inhabitants, while also having non-permanent correspondents in the remaining half of the cities. Troyan is an example of a city where there are strong arguments for the permanent presence of a BTA correspondent, according to all the criteria mentioned above," noted Valchev. 

He added that the population of the city itself is 17,000 people, but taking into account other settlements in and near the municipality the population becomes almost twice that size. Troyan Municipality has a leading economy not only in the Lovech region, but is also important for the entire industry of Bulgaria enterprises in the field of woodworking, pharmacy, electrical engineering and textiles. Furthermore, Troyan, together with the neighbouring village of Oreshak, is a leading tourist centre of the Balkan mountains, emphasised Valchev, adding that the Troyan Monastery is one of the three stauropegion monasteries and spiritual centres of Bulgaria.

In the past, Troyan has been covered by correspondents from the Lovech region, which over the years have been Dimitar Dichev, Maria Atanasova, Hristo Atanasov, Emilia Tsanova and Stella Bocheva. Daniela Balabanova has been a correspondent since 2011. In April 2024, for the first time, a correspondent has been appointed in Troyan itself, with Preslava Ivanova being responsible for the coverage of Apriltsi Municipality.

Valchev emphasized that the correspondents of BTA monitor and transmit not only political news, but equally cover events in economy, culture, education and science. "Since the beginning of June, the new permanent correspondent of BTA in Troyan has more than 50 correspondences from the region on all kinds of topics, which is more than three times more than the news for the whole of June in 2023 from the correspondent in Lovech," he said.

Valchev also emphasized the role of BTA as a media partner for the promotion of cultural events from the relevant region in the country and abroad, like Apolonia in Sozopol, Burgas and the Sea in Burgas, the European Music Festival in Sofia, the March Music Days in Ruse, and many other. As a continuation of this, a tripartite contract for media cooperation was signed between BTA, Troyan Municipality and the Art by the River non-profit association in connection with the coverage of the Jam on the River International Music and Arts Festival in the village of Debnevo. The sixth edition of the festival will be held from July 31 to August 3.