site.btaUPDATED January 27, 1898: Prince Ferdinand Decrees Bulgarian News Agency's Establishment

The Bulgarian News Agency (BTA) was established by Order No. 28, issued by Prince Ferdinand I on January 27, 1898 and promulgated in State Gazette No. 41 of February 24, 1898, as "Bulgarska Telegrafna Agentsiya" [Bulgarian Telegraph Agency, acronym: B.T.A.], a designation reflecting the hardware of the day. When set up, the Agency was part of the Department of Press and Library of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Public Worship.

BTA is thus one of Europe's oldest national news gathering and distributing operations, as only the great powers had set up news agencies of their own earlier.

By the same Order, newspaper editor, journalist and publisher Oskar Iskender PhD was appointed first BTA director, effective February 1, 1989, with an annual salary of 5,580 leva. He held the position until June 23, 1898.

On February 16, 1898, BTA issued its first news bulletin, hand-written personally by Iskender. It consisted of three pages of dispatches datelined from Vienna, Athens and Constantinople, covering developments in the Balkan countries, commodity exchange price fluctuations and, above all, the health condition of Princess Clementine, Prince Ferdinand's mother. Copies were delivered by hand to each of the six subscribers: government institutions, Sofia's newspapers and foreign diplomatic agencies.

BTA celebrates its birthday on February 16 - the anniversary of its first bulletin.