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Book on 125 years of BTA's news writing

Memory, as Valuable as It Is, Can Be Burden, Former BTA Director Denev Says

Konstantin Karagyozov, Vanya Suharova
Memory, as Valuable as It Is, Can Be Burden, Former BTA Director Denev Says
Memory, as Valuable as It Is, Can Be Burden, Former BTA Director Denev Says
Panayot Denev, Director General of the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA) from 1997 to 2002, attends the presentation of the book 125 Years Bulgarian News Agency. The Real News: Stories On File 1989–2023 at BTA’s National Press Club in Sofia, October 15, 2025 (BTA Photo/Milena Stoykova)
Sofia,  
15.10.2025 19:28
 (BTA)
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“Memory, as valuable as it is, can also be a burden,” said Panayot Denev, Director General of the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA) from 1997 to 2002, during the presentation of the book 125 Years Bulgarian News Agency. The Real News: Stories On File 1989–2023 at BTA’s National Press Club in Sofia on Wednesday.

“I thought I’d remind you of a few things,” Denev said. “The first important thing that happened for me at BTA was the 1972 chess match between Boris Spassky and Bobby Fischer. That’s when it became clear that there is another kind of work – one that requires enormous preparation, especially for sports events. The next turning point came during the Vrancea earthquake, when we realized that BTA cannot have working hours. Only three people stayed in the newsroom, and none of the reporters thought to call in. The next day a team went on site, and their report appeared in the confidential bulletin for 250 readers.”

“The next one was Chernobyl,” he continued. “While preparing the book, Lili Lakova told me that at the time, duty editors were forbidden to read teletypes from foreign agencies that had ‘Chernobyl’ written at the top. They would roll them up and put them away until a car came twice a day to collect them. That’s when we learned that obstacles could be placed in front of everything.”

“Then came the Antonov case,” Denev went on. “That’s when I realized that the truth could be written – and that it could be a weapon. And that it could be sent out in English. We were releasing stories that never appeared in Bulgarian newspapers. Then came the time when lies and silence surrounded the forced name-changing of Bulgarian citizens of Turkish origin. We later made that right.”

According to Denev, BTA’s English Service Directorate was where technical innovations were first tested. “The translators refused to work with computers,” he recalled. “One morning I came in early and locked the typewriters in the cleaning ladies’ room next to the men’s restroom.”

“I worked hard,” Denev said. “I never worked for the sake of my CV. I didn’t turn my work into a résumé. There was work to be done, and it had to be done. All kinds of work. I became known as an organizer of press clubs and publisher of bulletins. The most important one was Apollonia, where the story went on for 35 years. But the most important thing I did here was the BTA Act,” said Denev.

/DS/

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By 23:09 on 16.10.2025 Today`s news

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