site.btaBTA Complains of Information Theft and Users' Reluctance to Credit It for Reports

BTA Complains of Information Theft and Users' Reluctance to Credit It for Reports

Sofia, October 6 (BTA) - During a heading in Parliament Thursday, the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA) leadership complained of two problems plaguing its everyday work: the theft of information and the reluctance of users to credit BTA for the news items. After the hearing, a report on the BTA activity in 2015, including a financial report, was approved by the legislature as called for by the law.

The report identifies a need of increasing the state subsidy by 200,000 to 300,000 leva for capital expenditure, which will bring the level of financing to the 2009 figure.

BTA boasts having organized, together with the Association of Bulgarian Media Abroad, yet another edition of the World Meeting of Bulgarian Media. The event was held in Athens November 4-8, 2015. BTA also hosted the annual conference of the European Alliance of News Agencies.

During the debate, Irena Sokolova (GERB) commended BTA for opening new press clubs in Eastern Serbia, which has a large population of ethnic Bulgarians, and for holding the meeting in Athens.

She said that BTA remains committed to the highest standards in journalism and has kept its name as a reliable source of information.

Dimiter Bairaktarov (Patriotic Front) said it would be only right to increase the BTA budget for 2017. Turning to Sokolova, he said that BTA cannot be expected to produce a quality products with its budget of 4.5 million.