Several major Bulgarian newspaper and magazine publishers have founded a new media association in Sofia, after the Union of Publishers in Bulgaria has been ripped apart by conflicts.

The lowest level of internet access in the EU has been registered in Bulgaria with a 45% share of households with such access.

Media mogul Irena Krasteva and her son Delyan Peevski, who have been criticized for concentrating Bulgaria's media market in their hands and fawning to those in power, have acquired one more TV channel and four radio stations, reports say.

By Rumyana Tsvetkova, BNR

Despite the economic crisis, the media market is one of Bulgaria’s fastest developing markets, firmly believes Mira Radeva, Head of the Institute of Social Surveys and Marketing MBMD. In her opinion, this is due to the coming presidential and local elections, which boost people’s interest in media information. The most popular means of information is television. 93% of the Bulgarians say that they learn about the latest developments in Bulgaria and the world through it. Those who prefer the press increased some 10% on December last year, thus reaching in June 43% of the entire population. The share of the Bulgarians using the Internet to get updated also went up significantly (33%). The number of people listening to the radio has stayed the same, accounting for some 20%. These are the findings of a nationwide representative survey carried out in June by the Institute of Social Surveys and Marketing MBMD. According to Ms. Radeva, the reason why the radio is down in the rankings is that it has become a sort of ‘background’ media.

Two daily tabloids were launched on the Bulgarian market Monday, vying for the attention of readers in holiday mood who feel like "taking a break from serious and boring news".

Bulgaria DNES ("Bulgaria TODAY) is published by Media Group Bulgaria, publisher of the most popular Bulgarian dailies Trud and 24 Hours. The two wide-circulation dailies, former assets of WAZ Mediengruppe, were recently acquired by Ognyan Donev and Lyubomir Pavlov in what was termed a corporate mini-coup. The name of Nedyalko Nedyalov, publisher of Retro, is also involved in the project. The editor-in-chief of Bulgaria DNES is Nikolay Penchev, who was previously in charge of the 168 Hours weekly. According to the owners, the target audience of the newspaper is Bulgarian families.

By LIAM COLLINS, Sunday Independent

Veronica Guerin, the 15th anniversary of whose death occurred last week, has inspired a growing number of journalists and young people in Bulgaria.

Last week, Eimear Friel of the Irish Embassy in Bulgaria, and Lyuben Milev, head of the Blagoevgrad municipal council's legal and information department, presented the 'Veronica Guerin Award' at a ceremony in the town south of Sofia.

Bulgaria suffers from a chronically malfunctioning media world which is servicing unclear political and economic interests, according to political analyst Tsvetozar Tomov.

Speaking in an interview for BGNES, Tomov commented that in Bulgaria the economic conditions for the existence of free media are absent.

Bulgaria's Business Registry Agency has registered 83% of the wide-circulation dailies "Trud" (Labor) and 24 Chasa (24 Hours) as property of Ognyan Donev and Lyubomir Pavlov.

The remaining 17% are owned by the "BG Printmedia" company managed by Pavlov and Hristo Grozev, the Bulgarian National Television, BNT, informs. 53% of the company are still held by the Vienna-based "BG Privatinvest" GmbH, belonging to Grozev and Austrian Karl Habsburg. The other  47% are owned by the manager of Pavlov's publishing business.

Hristo Grozev, a partner in BG Privatinvest Ltd, wanted to force the participation of a Bulgarian alcohol producing company and of newspaper owner, Delyan Peevski, in Media Group Bulgaria.

The accusation was made Thursday morning by the CEO of the group, Lyubomir Pavlov, in a TV interview for the TV channel TV7.

Grozev struck back, saying Pavlov has been long-known for being an expert in black PR.

The new owners of WAZ Mediengruppe assets in Bulgaria, which include the two wide-circulation Trud and 24 Hours (24 Chasa) newspapers, have clashed in an open conflict just three months after sealing the deal. The scandal broke Tuesday and flared further in the hour-long TV exchange.

Grozev, who represents the Vienna-registered BG Privatinvest Ltd, controlled by himself, Austrian Karl Habsburg, and German Daniel Rutz, accuses their Bulgarian partners in an illegal corporate take-over of the newspapers.