site.btaBTA Director General Addresses UBJ Conference on Problems Facing Regional Journalism in Bulgaria

The Bulgarian News Agency (BTA) is the only Bulgarian media with a complete and permanent correspondent network, said the agency's Director General Kiril Valchev during a discussion on Thursday at the Union of Bulgarian Journalists (UBJ) on challenges and problems facing regional journalism in Bulgaria.

"Out of 42 correspondent bureaus, 32 are permanent in Bulgaria. This is more than the regional cities, which are 27, including Sofia. In fact, we are stepping on a rich tradition. This network has been built gradually since the 1950s," Valchev said.

There are press clubs in the regional cities as well as in Kazanlak, Svishtov, Samokov, Petrich and Troyan. "The question is how to develop this network from now on. My initial plan was to gradually move towards permanent correspondents in all Bulgarian cities with a population of over 20,000. But, unfortunately, after the results of the national census of the National Statistical Institute in 2021, it turned out that this was too high a criterion and the plan now is to develop in cities with a population of more than 15,000," the BTA Director General explained.

He hopes that by the end of 2024 the agency will have two correspondents in all cities with press clubs, in addition to BTA’s existing network of regional correspondents.

"The whole labour legislation in Bulgaria is not adapted at all for the work of journalists. It's not possible to combine part-time with full-time. The requirements for breaks are such that you can actually rely more often on the heartiness of the person who works than on clear rules that help journalism. In this sense, changes are needed and this is not the only profession that needs to think about how to change the rules," Valchev said.

He commented that BTA correspondents do not depend in any way on local authorities and businesses. "This is one of the leading problems of Bulgarian regional journalism. Where there are regional media, they are appendages of either some economic interest or political interest. However, when the entire management of these teams is from Sofia, local authorities and local businesses cannot influence us in any way."

According to Valchev, the issue of journalists' salaries is also important. "PR people are often better paid. This is one of the reasons why there are actually no private regional media and it is very difficult to find people in public media," he said. 

The discussion on the challenges and problems facing regional journalism in Bulgaria was opened by UBJ Chair Snezhana Todorova. It was also attended by Assoc. Prof. Orlin Spasov, Nikoleta Daskalova, Simona Veleva, Gabriela Naplatanova, Kadrinka Kadrinova and Prolet Velkova from the Council for Electronic Media.