Opinions & Interviews

MINSK, 12 September (BelTA) - Modern mass media should maintain a continuous dialogue, Maxim Minchev, the Director of the Bulgarian Telegraph Agency (BTA), the General Secretary of the News Agencies World Congress, said at the the 13th Belarusian International Media Forum Partnership for the Future: Digital Agenda for Media Space in Minsk on 12 September, BelTA has learned.

“The journalist community must engage in an ongoing dialogue. Things are changing very fact and we can keep pace only by way of sharing experiences, communicating with each other. Being a journalist for many years, I could have never imagined, even in the most daring dreams, that we would have become absolute hostage to new technologies so quickly,” Maxim Minchev said.

Infrastructure of journalism has changed drastically. Such a profession as a journalist practically does not exist on its own today, believes Maxim Minchev. “It is not what it used to be in the past. Our readers, viewers, listeners can be with us and sometimes ahead of us. Journalism needs to look for ways to stay relevant. This is why it is important to maintain the ongoing dialogue with colleagues, communicate in a variety of formats in order to share the experience and learn from each other,” he said.

Maxim Minchev added that in 2019 Bulgaria's capital Sofia will host the News Agencies World Congress and will invite representatives of the world's major newspapers, magazines, radio stations, Google and Microsoft corporations. The format of the conversation regarding journalism has long ago overstepped its boundaries, the BTA director general said.

The Bulgarian News Agency BTA, which has a 120-year history, has cooperated with the Belarusian News Agency BelTA for many years. Today Maxim Minchev gave BelTA Director General Irina Akulovich a professional excellence diploma, to honor the 100th anniversary of BelTA. “Such anniversaries speak volumes about the level of professionalism, the place of the news agency in the information space of the country. For our part, we hope for further fruitful cooperation, creative collaborative projects,” maxim Minchev said.