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21 08 2006 Bulgaria, an independent non-governmental organisation,
runs locally-relevant programmes, responding to media and wider societal
needs.
BIRN Bulgaria Mission
BIRN Bulgaria's mission is to produce and disseminate good quality analytical
journalism on political, social and economic themes, supporting thus media
development, a sound civil society, and understanding between ethnic groups
and nations in the Balkans.
As European-oriented reforms are the main focus of
BIRN's regional programme, the aim of the BIRN Bulgaria is to help citizens
to better understand the obligations of European Union membership and
to overcome remaining democratisation problems.
BIRN also endeavors to communicate Bulgaria's experience of the transition
process to its Balkan neighbors, promoting better regional understanding
and, in so doing, helping avert regional disputes over social and economic
issues.
Challenges
Although Bulgaria became a full member of the EU in January 2007, it is still experiencing a number of difficulties in fully democratising
the state. Issues such as judicial reform, organised crime, and corruption
on all levels remain as major challenges.
Moreover, transition and democratisation have brought to the country new
challenges such as growing nationalism and xenophobia, various poverty-driven
social problems and newly emerging ethnic tensions.
On a regional level, Bulgaria and Romania function quite separately from
the rest of the Balkans, having different political agendas and showing
little interest, knowledge and support for their former Yugoslav neighbours
or Albania.
BIRN Bulgaria’s approach
BIRN’s Bulgarian project is designed to counter this trend, through
the dissemination of information across the region and the enhancement
of public dialogue on a broad range of bilateral and multilateral issues.
BIRN Bulgaria aims to make media reporting and debate on EU issues real,
relevant and regional.
To accomplish this goal, its project has been designed to:
-supply Bulgarian local and national media with good-quality analytical
articles on major political and economic issues;
-train and motivate local journalists to develop their professional skills
by producing analytical and investigative journalism that meets the standards
of their colleagues in developed democratic countries;
-support informed debate on key challenges of the Bulgarian EU accession
both nationally and regionally.
At the beginning of 2010 BIRN network published Digging Deeper - A Guide for Investigative Journalists in the Balkans, written in cooperation with Sheila Coronel, Director of the Stabile Center for Investigative Journalism and professor of professional practice at Columbia University, New York.
