Challenges of Bulgarian transformations to contemporary media developments (1989–2014)

Lilia Raycheva

doi:10.17951/k.2016.23.1.163

Abstract

The paper examines in a three-folded way the media developments in Bulgaria during the last quarter of a century in several aspects: political, legal, technological, social and professional. It also discusses some major political and social implications of the new roles of the audiences viewed through the prism of pre-election campaigning and public activism. The text examines some main challenges of the media transformation to media freedoms, such as politicization of media and mediatization of politics in pre-election campaigning, as well as the growing significance of the media ecosystem (the mutual collaboration between the blogosphere and the traditional media).

Highlights

The period of transformation to democracy and market economy has posed significant social challenges to the population in Bulgaria
The major trends in the development of contemporary communication processes, such as technological convergence; media and communication trans-nationalization; obscuring of demarcation lines between the commercial and public media territories; commodity approaches leading to manipulation of audiences; fragmentation and specialization of the media consumption; genre hybridization, etc. have their great impact on contemporary Bulgarian media developments and sustaining media freedoms
Tracing out the processes in the contemporary media system, several trends, which are important for its future functioning in support of its independence, could be outlined: Technological: The territory of media contents distribution will continue to expand via various communication platforms into diverse hybrid forms – media, media-like, personal, corporative, etc

Summary

INTRODUCTION

The period of transformation to democracy and market economy has posed significant social challenges to the population in Bulgaria. The transition was slowed down by delayed legislation, aggressive political behavior and underdeveloped markets All this caused a rapid impoverishment, a high rate of unemployment and a loss of established social benefits like free healthcare and free education. The transition to civil society and market economy in Bulgaria involved a number of challenges in mass media developments. These included the general insufficiency of financial and technological resources and lack of professional standards. To understand the profound transformation of the mass media system and its development trends in Bulgaria, one should go back to the roots of political upheaval after the falling of the Berlin Wall. Along with the overall economic and political crisis of the time, the transformation of the mass media system developed on practical, trial-and-error efforts, rather than on a legal basis. 1*

The topic has been analyzed by the author in the following publications

Findings

CONCLUSIONS