MEGATRENDS AND MEDIA

MEGATRENDS AND MEDIA
which they try to provide with intelligent relaxation. As counter-values
they expect direct and open communication and exchange of opinions.
The publishing house Cits Medijs, similarly to the N Press, managed to
gain investors and so the weekly IR comes out in both print and electronic
versions. 8
In Bulgaria, among readers on the Internet there are popular community webs,
for instance offnews.bg, or bivol.bg, which seek to supply investigative role
of the mainstream media. Namely, they have abdicated it under the influence
of local oligarchs. “Off Media, Inc. was established in 2011 with the mission
to recover the lost connection between media institutions and readers. Our
aim is to create a community of free people, in which readers will write,
comment and offer ideas, without fear of censorship and while knowing
that their voices will be listened to.“ 9 The second from the Bulgarian web
portals chose a metaphorical name byvol (buffalo). Bivol.bg similarly to
a noble animal, uses his horns to get to the truth. Assen Yordanov and Atanas
Tchobanov explain that their endeavour is to create a place, where readers
can achieve only high quality investigative journalism without censorship
and auto-censorship. Likewise other new media, also bivol.bg calls its
readers on the exchange of opinions and on cooperation. So far, the web
portal has been financed by donations of the readers, supporters and sale of
the advertising space. 10
However, it is questionable how long these independent projects can last.
Will they get into attention of general public? Will they find a suitable way of
funding? According to Štěťka if these independent projects are not successful
„it may mean that the region will have to rather soon say goodbye not only
to foreign owners but also to the journalism as an autonomous profession,
which primarily promotes public interest and not interests of those who are
currently paying bills.“
5 Oligarchs can be found anywhere
Domestic entrepreneurial elites, often attached to the state, having
economic centre of interests in other key areas can be found in every
8 Medijiem. [online]. [2015-04-04]. Available at: .
9 Мисия. [online]. [2015-04-04]. Available at: .
10 About Us. [online]. [2015-04-04]. Available at: .
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