Radio Bulgaria deleted Audio Programs from BNR Web. From 01 June 2017, there are no audio from for German, French and Spanish on BNR web. To protest this decision Radio Bulgaria BNR Staffs wrote Open Letter. Spanish web of BNR also post the news of ceasing Audio from there web.
BNR Staffs wrote Open Letter
Open letter by the Radio Bulgaria staff, extracts
In May 30, Alexander Velev, Director General of the Bulgarian National Radio announced to the staff of Radio Bulgaria the management’s plans to close it down, as it is “a propaganda anachronism from the times of communism”. Mr. Velev stated that the only foreign languages Turkish, Russian and English will not scrap.
This raises a number of questions, among which:
* If foreign language programming is an anachronism from cold war times, why is it that the public radio stations in a number of countries still have it, among them the Voice of America, the Voice of Turkey, Vatican Radio, Radio Romania International to mention but a few?* What are the criteria applied in prioritizing certain languages in which there will continue to be foreign language content within the system of the BNR?
We believe that the decision whether to have foreign-language content produced by the Bulgarian National Radio or not, how many languages there should be and which languages is not an administrative prerogative of this or any other management of the BNR currently in office, but is a matter concerning the foreign policy of Bulgaria, its security in the long term.
What about the Future!
Bulgaria is taking over the rotating Presidency of the Council of the EU in the first half of 2018. Radio Bulgaria’s foreign language production has a well-established readership abroad. It is an extremely important information conduit. In this regard, terminating the production in major European languages like French, German and Spanish is nothing if not bewildering.
We consider the decision to terminate Radio Bulgaria to be shortsighted and an end in itself. It is our opinion that the plans of the BNR management should be put to discussion and evaluation, so as to prevent administrative decisions that would be damaging to the face the country presents to the world.
From the editorial staff of Radio Bulgaria
Bulgarian National Radio
More on Radio Bulgaria : BNR Said Good Bye Audio
