em from these sources but, having no
alternative, continue to use them.

Historically, of all the mass communications systems, the press has
always reached the largest number of people and has traditionally been
viewed by the government as the most effective means of informing the
general public. Although the circulation of the press dropped
drastically in the mid-1940s, it has since the 1960s once again become
the chief instrument of the mass communications system. Radio has
greatly expanded in variety and scope since the 1940s. Television,
although slow to develop and still limited in its audience relative to
other European countries, has been growing rapidly since the early 1960s
and was beginning to experiment with color in the early 1970s.

There has been little change in the Bulgarian publishing industry since
1944. Owing to the government's fear of contamination by the West or
other capitalist societies, there is very little importation of foreign
books into the country. Although books have increased greatly in terms
of sheer numbers of editions, the quantity of book titles has remained
very much the same since World War II.

Libraries range from those under the control of state ministries and
committees to local reading rooms and enterprise libraries. The latter
are generally more widely used by the people.

Since the end of World War II the film industry has grown to a great
extent. Like other instruments of the media, films are chosen for their
propagandistic value; however, since the advent of television, fewer
people have attended films.

BACKGROUND

The press--composed of newspapers and periodicals--was the most
developed of the Bulgarian media in the first half of the twentieth
century. Radio, which was introduced in the 1920s, was under the aegis
of what was then the Ministry of Post, Telegraph, and Telephone. The
production, importation, and sale of radios were unrestricted. The least
developed communications system of the day was the film industry, which
was privately owned and operated. Television was not initiated in the
country until the mid-1950s.

In the years immediately after the takeover, a strong pro-Soviet policy
was established for the media, which was still in effect in 1973. While
the new government restricted individual freedom and initiative within
the media, it demanded total support by the media of all policies of the
Soviet Union. Despite the fact that Bulgaria has never devi