Good News for the Balkans   

The Balkans are not known for quality journalism. National newspapers in Bulgaria are tabloid in format and tone and often are aligned formally or informally with one of the political parties.

But a new Western-style newspaper is trying to change that. Dnevnik, which means Journal in Bulgarian, is a broadsheet daily published by the Agency for Investment Information, the same private company that owns the widely respected Kapital, a weekly in Sofia.

Dnevnik's deputy editor in chief, Galya Prokopieva, says her paper is marketing itself to advertisers as an upscale buy. Dnevnik is aiming for middle-class readers as well as those who are decision makers, she says. "We hope our readers to be entrepreneurs and those who try to reach a [good] standard of living not counting on the state, those who believe that the state should only create clear rules for business."

Since its February 12 debut, the Sofia-based nationally distributed paper's circulation has reached 12,000. To break even, the paper needs to grow to 20,000, depending on what it makes in advertising revenues.

Dnevnik is reminiscent of Kontinent, a similar effort four years ago to bring quality journalism to Bulgaria. But Bulgaria was not as economically strong then as it is now, and Kontinent failed.

Dnevnik enters a crowded and well-established field. The two largest-circulation newspapers in Bulgaria are Trud (Work), circulation 250,000, and 24 Chassa (24 Hours), circulation 200,000, both tabloids published by WAZ, a German company.

Among the public, the top complaint about Dnevnik seems to be that the broadsheet format is inconvenient. Those who like the paper say the clean design is what caught their eye, but the fair and complete coverage keeps them coming back.

The newspaper's stories have already earned it the unwanted attention of legal authorities. One article implicated the brother of Bulgaria's chief public prosecutor in the illegal export of ancient coins. Almost immediately Dnevnik, Kapital and the newspapers' publishers were investigated for possible tax violations. The papers reported on this ham-handed but not uncommon pressure tactic, Prokopieva says. Partly as a consequence, Parliament rejected a law then under consideration that would have increased the powers of the prosecutor's office.

But doing such hard-hitting stories has been difficult because of a lack of well-trained and qualified reporters and editors, Prokopieva says.

Todor Petev, associate professor of journalism and mass communications at Sofia University, is cautiously hopeful about Dnevnik's prospects. "It's a very good newspaper, but it has to survive the startup," he says. "It's close to the public's agenda, and that's why it's gaining."