site.btaLIK Magazine Unveils January Issue, Publishes Online Its 1965 Debut Issue

At a series of events on Thursday, January 23, BTA will unveil the January edition of its LIK magazine. It is titled "LIK at 60" and celebrates the anniversary of the debut issue of 1965.

The first LIK issue was published on January 8, 1965.

On the occasion of the anniversary, BTA published on its website for free access the inaugural issue of LIK.

The magazine will be presented at BTA’s MaxiM Hall with the participation of the news agency's press clubs across the country via video conference. 

In a preface to the January issue, BTA Director General Kiril Valchev asks if there is a need for the magazine today. "The answer lies in the five strategic goals with which Bulgaria's national news agency entered the 20s of the 21st century against the backdrop of a century and a quarter of its existence," he says. "First, LIK is needed for the truth," the Director General argues, adding as a second reason that LIK has to be available freely because of the truth it presents. "Third, LIK is needed because of 'knowledge (...) Fourth, LIK is needed today because we need the community it fosters," writes Kiril Valchev. Under number five he puts that Bulgaria needs LIK today because of memory.

"The issue dedicated to the LIK magazine poses a question that others may gloss over, but the editor-in-chief is obliged to ask and answer. Isn't it a manifestation of media narcissism for the magazine to concern itself with itself?". With these words editor-in-chief Georgi Lozanov begins his article "Media Review of Survivors". According to him, the answer to this question is ‘no’, because "its very editorial policy, which envisages the revival of the collective memory of significant personalities and events of our culture, turns it into an object of its own interest, and LIK is just such an event." 

LIK managing editor Yanitsa Hristova tells about the third stage of the magazine. "If before 1989 the publication introduced us to examples of Western culture, and after 1989 it set high standards for our own culture, now, in its third stage, LIK is looking for timeless values and examples that have left their bright imprint in its history. This is at the heart of one of the specific features of the revived magazine - each issue is dedicated to a particular theme - a significant person, event or phenomenon in the cultural and social life of the country, with a chronological presentation of how the topic has featured in the BTA’s archives," she recalls.