Newspapers in Bulgaria
According to PHYSICSCAT.COM, Bulgaria is a country located in Europe. Until 1989, the mass media in Bulgaria was controlled by the Communist Party. Subsequently, the media structure has changed, and several newspapers and magazines have been started. Important older newspapers are Duma (‘The Word’, formerly Rabotnitjesko Delo, founded in 1927), Trud (‘The Work’, 1923) and Zemelsko Zname (‘The Peasant Fan’, 1902). Influential older magazines are the author’s Literature Forum (1944) and Kultura (1957). An influential new magazine is 168 Tjasa (1992). Important new newspapers are the UDF newspaper Demokratsija (1990), the tabloid newspaper 24 Tjasa (’24 hours’, 1991), Standard News Daily (1992) and Monitor (1998) and was Continental (1992-98). In 1997, Westdeutsche acquired Allgemeine Zeitung (WAZ) among others. Trud and 24 Tjasa and in 1998 controlled a total of about 80% of the daily press, whose total circulation was 1.1 million copies. (134 newspaper sex. per 1,000 residents). There are two national news agencies Bulgarian Telegraphic Agentsia (BTA, founded in 1898) and Sofia-Press (founded in 1967) for information abroad.
The State Bǎlgarsko Radio (founded in 1929) has two national channels and five regional stations. The Bulgarian Televizija State (founded in 1959) has two national channels. Private radio was allowed in 1992, and a private TV channel (Nova Televizija) was opened in 1994. There are 543 radio and 449 TV receivers per 1,000 residents (2000).
Culture
According to APARENTINGBLOG, Bulgaria’s cultural heritage includes the world’s oldest gold finds, centuries-old musical traditions and visual arts from the medieval Orthodox Church.
The oldest known find of refined gold to date dates back to the 3000s BC and was found off the coast of Varna on the Black Sea. Most of the archaeological finds in Bulgaria come from the Thracians, an ancient Indo-European people who inhabited parts of the Balkans.
At Kazanlak, 20 km from Sofia, there is a famous Thracian tomb, an over 2,000 year old cemetery decorated with frescoes. The palace ruins of the old cities of Plovdiv, Pliska and Veliko Tarnovo are also world famous.
Bulgarian archaeologists found in 2012 what they believe are the remains of the oldest settlement-like settlement found in Europe to date. The walled settlement near the modern city of Provadia in northeastern Bulgaria dates to between 4700 and 4200 BC. The city is believed to have had a few hundred residents who depended on salt production.
The almost 500 years of Ottoman / Turkish rule (1396-1878) meant a stagnation of Bulgarian culture. Only in connection with the nationalist revival in the 19th century did indigenous cultural life begin to develop again. The role models were taken from Western Europe. Poetry, art and theater began to emerge. The first Bulgarian theater performance in modern times was held in 1856.
Theater and opera play an important role in cultural life. Bulgarian singing traditions have gained international attention through the ladies choirs Le Mystère des voix Bulgares and Angelite. The songs are often performed without accompaniment, and the repertoire includes orthodox church music from the 13th century onwards as well as traditional folk songs.
In 1889, author Ivan Vazov wrote the novel Under the Yoke, which is considered Bulgaria’s national post. Among modern writers, the poet Blaga Dimitrova (vice president 1991–1993) is one of the more well-known. Elias Canetti, who received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1981, was born in Bulgaria. However, he left the country as a child and wrote in German.
Until 1990, cultural life was heavily controlled by the Communist Party and in the largest cities there were state-funded symphony orchestras, opera houses, theaters, cultural houses and museums. Nowadays, there is a free cultural climate, but at the same time a large part of the state grants have disappeared and many cultural institutions have difficulty surviving.
2015
December
Legal reform is adopted
December 16th
Following the adjustments made by the Minister of Justice a week earlier, Parliament is adopting, by a wide margin, amendments to the Constitution to reform the judiciary. The amendments mean that the Supreme Judicial Council, which is responsible for appointments in the judiciary, is divided into two sections: one for judges and one for prosecutors. The intention is to reduce the prosecutor’s influence over the council. The EU has long criticized the judiciary for inefficiency and corruption.
The Minister of Justice resigns in protest
December 9
Justice Minister Hristo Ivanov resigns in protest that, according to him, Parliament sabotaged his attempt to reform the judiciary. According to Ivanov, the law that Parliament is prepared to adopt is so watered down that in practice it does not change anything. Ivanov belongs to the Reformist Party, which has a strained government cooperation with Prime Minister Borisov’s conservative Gerb, but who still decides to remain in the government.
November
Gerb is going strong in local elections
November 1st
The conservative government party Gerb strengthens its grip on power in nationwide local elections. After the second round, it is clear that Gerb’s mayoral candidates have won in 22 of the 27 major cities, including the capital Sofia and the second largest city of Plovdiv. For the first time since the fall of the Communist regime, the Socialists do not receive a single important mayoral post.
October
Refugee is shot to death by border guard
An Afghan man is shot to death by border guards as he, along with some 50 others, tries to cross the border from Turkey. This is the first known case of such a shooting death during the ongoing refugee crisis in Europe. The incident prompted Prime Minister Borisov to leave an EU summit in Brussels on the migrant crisis to return home.
September
Parliament does not want corruption investigated
Parliament voted down a government proposal to set up a new authority to combat corruption; The new authority was supposed to be able to examine the finances of some 10,000 high-ranking persons, including leading politicians, government officials, judges, municipal politicians and university rectors. A government representative notes that a majority of parliamentarians feel their own interests threatened by anti-corruption efforts.
August
The former spy boss is imprisoned
The former head of the intelligence service is sentenced to ten years in prison for corruption. Kirtjo Kirov, who was the country’s spy chief in 2003–2012, is accused of claiming the equivalent of EUR 2.4 million through false information about the expenses he incurred in the service. Half of his personal assets should also be confiscated. Kirov claims that the allegations are politically based and that the money would be used to recruit prosecutors. Kirov is considered to be close to the ruling Socialist Party and was opposed to the publication of communist year intelligence agents and informants.
February
Criticism for interference with freedom of the press
The European Security and Cooperation Organization (OSCE) criticizes Bulgaria for penalizing newspapers for reporting on the activities of companies and banks and for refusing to disclose their sources. According to the Reporters Without Borders organization, Bulgaria is the least EU country that takes into account freedom of the press.
January
Border fencing is being expanded
The government decides to extend the three-mile-long fence at the Turkish border by between € 8 and € 13 to curb the flow of asylum seekers to the EU. The UN Refugee Commission criticizes the decision that it will give refugee smugglers a bigger role and tempt more refugees to try to cross the border with danger to life.
