site.btaBTA Director General Delivers Public Lecture on "The Future of News: Real or Fake" in Plovdiv

BTA Director General Kiril Valchev delivered a public lecture on "The Future of News: Real or Fake" at the Plovdiv-based Academy of National and Information Security (ANIS) on Wednesday.

Valchev told students: "This lecture hall, and your university, are an excellent place to share an important message: that information is part of a country's national security. You study information security in depth, but I would like to offer a broader view - one that helps you see just how valuable what you are learning really is across the different disciplines connected to national security and information security."

He pointed out that there are two ways of understanding news and information in a broader sense. "One is that it is a market, with many paid sources of information, including news. For many years, this was the prevailing view in the Western world, to which we belong. From selling newspapers and magazines that deliver today's information to people, to paid websites. Part of this understanding is the still dominant idea that news agencies like BTA are paid services," said BTA's Director General.

He emphasized that he personally shares a different understanding: that information is part of the broader human right to knowledge. "The Bulgarian Constitution enshrines various aspects of information as a human right," Valchev said, reviewing several constitutional articles, including Article 41 on the subjective right to information, Article 53 on the right to education, and Article 54 on access to cultural values, among others.

"In schools, we learn from the accumulated experience of humanity and how to apply it in our lives. From the media, we learn about the present day. We receive information about what is happening to us now. And sometimes, this information proves far more important in our lives than what we have learned from past experience," said Valchev.

According to him, what students learn at ANIS goes beyond technological aspects and touches on a larger principle - ensuring information security. "If we accept that humans are distinguished from other living beings by speech, then they are distinguished by a right that other living beings cannot exercise. This is the right to knowledge, to accumulate knowledge. Today, this is realized through the media, which leave records for history," Valchev explained, recalling BTA's first news story: the health condition of Prince Ferdinand's mother, who was receiving treatment in Vienna at the time. The news item was handwritten by BTA's first director, Oskar Iskender. As a counterpoint, Valchev highlighted BTA's vast library of 5.2 million pages, now being digitized. He encouraged every student to use the agency's news on various topics according to their interests, which could support research for coursework or theses.

Valchev told students he would rank the right to knowledge alongside fundamental human rights, alongside the right to life, noting that the right to knowledge is not formally recognized in legal systems. "At most, they stop at the right to education, but the right to education is only a specific aspect. A concrete, derivative, subjective right stemming from a much broader right: to be born with the right to know. And news agencies perform the part of journalism that provides the facts," the Director General said.

He noted that no Bulgarian media outlet can provide comprehensive information about the world due to the high cost, citing agencies such as Reuters and Agence France-Presse, which sell their information successfully thanks to a global presence. "Editors at BTA monitor a vast stream of information," he added.

Valchev also addressed social media and their capacity for rapid information dissemination - something not anticipated when BTA was established. "In this world of rapid information dissemination through technology, should we talk about threats from social media and artificial intelligence, or should we see opportunities? I am an advocate of the latter," he said.

He expressed the view that social media cannot replace traditional media, despite claims to the contrary, because everyone in them is altogether unaccountable. "Classic media can be called media, unlike social networks, because they bear editorial responsibility. Everyone who writes is accountable. Social media, in my opinion, offer an opportunity to reach more people with reliable information and to do so in an engaging way," Valchev stressed.

The application of artificial intelligence in media that provide verified information presents a major challenge. Vаlchev noted that BTA is the first media outlet to formally adopt rules for AI use, outlined in two pages supplementing the agency's Ethical Code. Symbolically, this was enacted on February 16, BTA's birthday. "We follow one fundamental principle: at the core, at the beginning and at the end of every BTA news item, natural intelligence must prevail - a human must be at the centre," he stressed.

The lecture attracted students from ANIS's three faculties - of National Security, Economics, and Administration and Management. Among the guests were the ANIS President, Prof. Georgi Manolov, and Board Chair Olga Manolova.

The event was organized within the framework of the cooperation agreement between ANIS and BTA. The agreement is the first that the Academy has signed following the National Assembly's decision of October 2, 2025 to rename the Higher School of Security and Economics. The partnership forms part of ANIS leadership's strategic vision for the modernization and sustainable development of its educational and research activities.