DW Editor: Germans Link Black Sea Blast to Terror News

Novinite Insider » INTERVIEW | July 20, 2005, Wednesday // 00:00
DW Editor: Germans Link Black Sea Blast to Terror News Photo by Yuliana Nikolova (Sofia News Agency)

Alexander Andreev is a Bulgarian national who is now editor at the Bulgarian section of Deutsche Welle, Germany's national broadcaster. His career as a journalist started at the Bulgarian National Radio before he joined the Deutsche Welle team in 1991. His writings have been published in Bulgaria, Germany, Austria, the UK, Belgium, Singapore and the Netherlands. Andreev, who speaks six languages, has also worked as an advisor for many Bulgarian state institutions, top statesmen and political parties.

Mr Andreev answered questions of Milena Hristova, Editor-in-Chief of Sofia News Agency

Q: How did German media react to the news of the blast in Obzor, in which two German children were injured? Do you find some of the reports biased?

A: I followed closely the publications on the topic. Most of them were informative, with no comments. I would not say I came across biased articles, unless we consider as manipulations such catchy titles as "Car bomb in Bulgaria", "Car blown up, child dies in blast", "Assault on family - German children hurt". It was rather lack of knowledge that I noticed in media reports - a newspaper even claimed the bomb went off in Sofia, which it said was located on the Black Sea.

Q: How would you describe Bulgaria's presence in German media?

A: It is mostly objective information about Bulgaria's politics and economy. Before and after the June 25 general elections in Bulgaria, detailed articles were published in most highly circulated newspapers - Suddeutsche Zeitung, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Die Welt, Die Zeit. At the moment information on the progress made in forming Bulgaria's new government is published almost on a daily basis. Here is title of an article on Socialist leader Sergey Stanishev in a recent issue of Die Tageszeitung: "Cool, modern: socialist for Bulgaria".

Tourism is another important topic, related with Bulgaria. According to the German media Bulgaria ranks again this year among the preferred tourist destinations mainly for families with kids, young people and those who come to the Black Sea because it is fun and cheap there. It is often stressed that beside the low prices of packaged tourism, what matters to the Germans are the low prices of goods and services in Bulgaria - beer, ice cream, discotheques, sports and entertainment.

Unfortunately Bulgaria also appears in German media when the topics are corruption and crime. Shootouts and bombs that settle scores in the underworld, as well as fake euros that come from Bulgaria are all in the news here. What is of interest to the German journalists is also pick pocketing, illegal prostitution, traffic with children. Sometimes, even though not often, journalists demonstrate intolerable lack of knowledge - they mistake Bulgaria for Romania, Sofia for Bucharest, misspell names and once even placed a picture of Georgi Dimitrov* instead of Filip Dimirov **.

Q: Do you expect the blast news to hurt the flow of German tourists to Bulgaria?

A: Not for this season - the bigger part of German tourists have already booked their holidays. Next year - may be. In my opinion most of the Germans will remember there was something about bombing in the news from Bulgaria. Unaware of the reasons for the blast or how justified their fears are, they may associate the blast in Bulgaria with similar news reports from Turkey and Egypt (now and in the recent past), where it is all about terrorism. Here is the bad news - what will remain will be a blurred memory and fear of threats.

Q: Was it realistic to expect that the German Foreign Ministry will issue a warning to the German citizens?

A: I don't think so. The ministry issues alerts only when there is a registered trend, most often of terror attacks. The bomb blast in Bulgaria is an isolated, turf-war like event. As far as I know the German Foreign Ministry carefully analyses the situation in the separate countries and issues warnings namely on the bases of its in-depth analyses.

Q: What is Bulgaria's image as tourist destination in Germany?

A: Bulgaria is generally perceived as a destination, where the ratio between prices and services is very favourable. If one looks at German media reports, one will conclude that more and more often groups of graduates and clubs of amateur sportsmen come to Bulgaria in search of 24 hours of partying, cheap alcohol, dancing till dawn, sex and all kinds of entertainments. There were even reports about hotel staff complaining that some of the guests were dead drunk all the time and their rooms and beds were filthy and stinking. German TV station Vox aired recently an hour-long film about Black Sea tourism in Bulgaria. The authors were very favourable, even though objective. The film showed detailed information about separate resorts and hotels, price lists, trips across the country. Well, there were hints about wild capitalism, crimes, underworld figures, dark-windowed cars. Though rarely, German media talk about Bulgaria's mountain, spa and agrarian tourism, its tasty cuisine and excellent wines.

Q: What should Bulgaria do to improve that image?

A: It is necessary that tour operators and the government unite their efforts in an advertising pool, which should work out a long-term strategy for improving Bulgaria's image as tourist destination. It takes lots of money to do that, know-how, experienced partners in Europe - advertising agencies and consultancy companies, which know the requirements and preferences of the European tourists and the rules of the European advertising market. It is important that the long-term strategy puts the accent not only on low prices, but the forms of alternative tourism, beautiful nature, culture, Bulgarian cuisine, wines and hospitable people.


* Georgi Dimitrov - a longtime Stalin-like communist leader, he was elected prime minister in 1946 and brought the communist reign to Bulgaria as the single ruling power in the country.

**Filip Dimitrov - active member of the right-wing UDF, a broad coalition against continued rule by the Bulgarian Communist Party. Dimitrov became Prime Minister of Bulgaria in 1991, but remained in office for only about a year.

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