Macedonia’s capital Skopje will host the 14^th World Meeting of Bulgarian Media from October 24 until 28. Representatives of nearly 40 Bulgarian media from 25 countries will discuss various topics. Some of the forum’s subtopics are Patriotism’s Different Faces, Business and National Debt, Propaganda against Journalism, etc.

To me, as a person who works in Bulgarian media abroad, this forum is very useful, because I have the opportunity to meet colleagues engaged in similar activities in other countries, IvanKartchev, Producer of Bulgarian TV and Radio broadcast in Vienna and publisher of Vienna- Our City printed media, told Radio Bulgaria. This is a wonderful opportunity to exchange ideas about media content and discuss how our information can reach as many Bulgarians abroad as possible. Colleagues from England, Canada, the USA, Greece, Spain, Israel and many other countries are attending the forum which helps us a lot.

One of the main purposes of the forum is to establish a community of Bulgarian media abroad aimed at solving different problems:

Bulgaria does not provide any type of support to the Bulgarian media abroad. That is why, a small media community would not be able to support such media, Ivan Kartchev told Radio Bulgaria. For instance, the Bulgarian schools abroad are developing quite successfully, because they receive financial support from the state. However, the Bulgarian media which popularize the Bulgarian culture abroad and contribute to the preservation of the Bulgarian language among the Bulgarian communities abroad do not receive any financial support. This topic was subject to many discussions already which did not yield any concrete results yet. We also discus during the forum topics which attract peoples’ interest the most. The experienced media share their experience with the newly-established media and help them develop faster. Our meetings with journalists from Bulgaria are important as well, because they help us exchange information on various topics.

The Bulgarian media abroad contribute to the preservation of the Bulgarian language, culture and identity and it would be great if the state starts to provide financial support and helps their existence. Such measure became part of the official four-year government program of the current Bulgarian cabinet. However, it has remained on paper only, says Peter Stamatov who is one of the founders of the Bulgarian web site www.EuroChicago.com, which has a fifteen- year-long history. Peter Stamatov is among the most active participants at the World Meeting of Bulgarian Media. Macedonia’s capital Skopje is situated not far from Bulgaria. That is why a lot of people are expected to take part at this year’s edition of the World Meeting of Bulgarian Media, Peter Stamatov went on to say and added:

We hope to make new friends and meet fellow-citizens from Macedonia. We have been communicating for many years with Bulgarian journalists and representatives of Bulgarian organizations in Macedonia. The presence of Bulgarian media in Macedonia remains a problem, despite the good neighbor agreement signed between the two countries and the relations between Bulgarian and Macedonian media and institutions. The topic related to the presence of Bulgarian media in Macedonia was discussed recently by the Committee on the Policies for Bulgarians Abroad with the Bulgarian National Assembly where some alarming facts and unsolved problems were outlined. That is why this topic will be discussed at the 14^th World Meeting of Bulgarian Media in Skopje. We live in times when serious changes can occur in the media environment in one year only. That is why it would be interesting to continue a discussion from the previous World Meeting of Bulgarian Media in Moldova- whether TV channels lose their smart audience at the expense of the Internet and the social networks. The article of the Chief Secretary of the Bulgarian Telegraph Agency Evelina Andreeva is a good starting point. Evelina Andreeva makes interesting forecasts about the future of journalism. She predicts that soon 90% of the publications will be made by an artificial intelligence.

Peter Stamatov said he was planning to look for the support of the rest of the Bulgarian media abroad to make an official census of the Bulgarians living abroad.

English version: Kostadin Atanasov