According to pulmonologist Prof. Kosta Kostov, media communication during the pandemic was not effective enough. He pointed out that one of the most important reasons is that the center has remained outside the scientifically based facts. We failed to focus on science, said Prof. Kostov during the discussion "Hope in the Media" from the second day of the Sixteenth World Meeting of Bulgarian Media in the Rila Monastery and Kyustendil, organized by BTA.

In media communication, there seems to be a marginalization, a confrontation of two extreme opinions - the opinion of skeptics who do not believe in vaccines, who do not believe in the aggression of this infection, and on the other hand - the rulers who took advantage of all possible aspects of communication in order to build their decisions, commented Prof. Kosta Kostov. He noted that marginalized opinions are five percent on both sides. In the middle are those 90 percent - people who want to hear the truth, who want to hear the substantiated facts through science. Unfortunately, we failed to do that, he said.

Prof. Kostov commented that often because of the desire for a high rating, accents were brought to the fore, which cheered the audience, or made them afraid, panic, rather than pour out the truth, presented in an empathetic way to the audience. He pointed out that this is one of the reasons for refusing to participate in the media.

Prof. Kosta Kostov is a national consultant in lung diseases at the National Health Insurance Fund and editor-in-chief of INSPIRO magazine. He chaired the interim Medical Expert Council of the Council of Ministers in connection with the coronavirus pandemic to draw up a handbook to help doctors.

The World Meeting of Bulgarian Media is held in partnership with Rila Holy Monastery, Kyustendil Municipality, National Donation Fund "13th Century Bulgaria", State Cultural Institute under the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Student Chitalishte "St. Kliment Ohridski", Association GLAS - Bosilegrad, Bulgaria Air, Association for Modern Trade, Postbank, EasyPay.

/BTA