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.As Deutsche Welle-Bulgaria has been working for forty years now, Andreeved agreed to share some of his ideas about Deusche Welle-Bulgaria's history, priorities and relations with other Bulgarian medias.
Mr Andreev answered questions of Petya Bondokova, Editor of novinite.com and Sofia Morning News
Q: What are the main professional skills that members of the Deutsche Welle team should posses?
A: I will only mention the basic ones: perfect knowledge of the international, European, German and Bulgarian politics, good verbal skills, professional journalistic experience and knowledge of several languages. Our team members should also be able to manage all stages of the news-making process, including the work in our digital studios.
Q: Deutsche Welle's Bulgarian section started in 1963, during the 1946-1989 communist era. How did your editors deal with censorship?
A: For more than 25 years the communist apparatus' special services tried to black-out Deutsche Welle's emission, which was considered an "ideological threat". Documents dating from that period prove that the then political leaders feared uncensored information that DW provided to Bulgaria's people.
Mihail Antonov, founder of the Deutsche Welle Bulgarian section and its long-time Editor-in-Chief, says they received almost no feedback from Bulgarian listeners during that period. People were afraid to call or write to the editor because they would be persecuted by state investigation services.
However, Bulgarians found ways to listen to the radio station. For a long time it also broadcast essays of influential Bulgarian publicist Georgi Markov who had moved to London. Later on, he was murdered by agents of Bulgaria's communist National Security Service.
Deutsche Welle's popularity among Bulgarian people grew during the wave of repressions in the 80s against ethnic Turks living in the country. Our radio station than flatly took the side of that minority group and regularly provided information about state-launched actions against them. A lot of Bulgarian intellectuals that the regime chased away from the country also contributed to our program.
At the end of 1989 and the beginning of 1990, when the communist regime was falling apart, our present Editor-in-Chief Rumyana Taslakova took an active part in covering the events. Many of her stories still sound intriguing and relevant.
Q: Can you define the main tendencies in the development of Deutsche Welle-Bulgaria over the last forty years?
A: There are two major trends in our work since 1963. When the Bulgarian section was first established we worked mainly to provide diverse, objective information for Bulgaria's people who had almost no idea of the real events in the country or abroad. Our main aim was to publish those pieces of news or comments that were otherwise beyond their reach because of the strict censorship system.
After the communist regime crumbled, our priorities started to change. Building state institutions that respect the principles of democracy, joining the European Union and NATO, relations between Bulgaria and Germany, building a positive image for Bulgaria among foreign people -- those are some of the subjects that started to dominate our broadcasts.
The Europe 2007 Project that the Bulgarian team of Deutsche Welle launched on October 26 this year aims to bring Bulgarian nationals closer to the European spirit and standards. Terms concerning the country's Euro-integration still sound too abstract to many Bulgarians. Joining the European Union is mainly associated with a suddenly gained dream-life or feared as a risk to lose national identity.
There are also some professional principles we adopted: independency, objectivity, telling the different sides of every story.
Q: What makes independent journalism in Bulgaria different from that in other countries?
A: Journalism in Bulgaria seems to catch up with Europe's standards faster than politics, economy or other spheres of social life in the country do.
My personal impression is that Bulgarian media are the best ones on the Balkans. They are much more independent than those in Albania, Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro. In Bulgaria there is more high-quality information about international affairs and less of the tabloid journalism.
However, Bulgarian media -- when compared to those in Western Europe -- have a number of disadvantages. They dig into insignificant political issues and are often in a fierce hunt for sensational stories.
Unfortunately, economic situation in the country often allows money to manipulate some journalists. Many young and inexperienced people also jump into journalism and make some gross blunders.
Q: How do you describe the audience that Deutsche Welle-Bulgaria targets?
A: We are trying to get the attention of those Bulgarian people who like to know more about international trends and events. Those are the people who realize that having knowledge of the situation in the country requires knowledge of what happens around the whole world.
Our station doesn't play a lot of music because we try to save our listeners' time and provide the information they expect us to. We are especially fond of those who realize what great opportunities European Union accession provides. Just think about those 3,000 jobs that the EU member nations secured for people of the ten newly joined countries. Bulgarians and Romanians will have the same chance as their nations join the EU in 2006.
We do not consider Bulgarian media our rivals; we see our work as a necessary addition to theirs. We also offer sections on culture that, sorry to say, are rarely provided by Bulgarian press, radio stations or television channels.
We have also contracted some 30 local radio stations -- including the Bulgarian National Radio -- that re-transmit parts of our program.
Q: What is your idea of development of Bulgarian medias over the next couple of years and Deutsche Welle's role in it?
A: It's quite difficult to draw a general conclusion in just a few sentences. However, I believe Bulgaria is heading for a more normal life, which will bring local media to a higher standard. When people have an easier life they show greater interest for things that happen around them.
As for radio stations, I see a tendency for consolidation, as there are too many of them when compared to the number of people in the country.
I hope for Deutsche Welle to keep its present audience and also draw the interest of more young people to issues concerning Europe and Bulgaria's accession to the European Union in particular.
I also see many opportunities for cooperation between Deutsche Welle and foreign radio stations, which make emissions in Bulgarian.
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