however, they were closed down.

The Fifth Party Congress in 1948, endeavoring to more fully exploit the
potential of the press for propaganda purposes, called upon it to serve
as the "first assistant of the Bulgarian Communist Party, of the
Fatherland Front, and of the government." The primary function of the
printed news media, as stated by that congress, was to mobilize the
working people in terms of their identification with the so-called great
socialist buildup. In the same year the Central Home of Bulgarian
Journalists was established in order to train writers in the correct
propaganda line established by the party. This institution was replaced
in 1955 by the Union of Bulgarian Journalists.

After World War II the national newspapers were generally four pages
long and consisted of news concerning Bulgaria, the Soviet Union, and
other socialist countries; progress reports regarding national economic
plans; foreign news presented with a decided anti-Western bias; and
information regarding cultural events and sports. Cartoons, which
appeared occasionally in the daily and weekly newspapers, were generally
propagandistic and dealt with so-called foreign agents, the bourgeoise,
and other so-called enemies of the people. There was little humor in the
newspapers, as their overall purpose was to portray and defend the
communist system.

The national newspapers were modeled after those of the Soviet Union, in
both style and content. During the 1940s they established ties with the
Soviet news agency, the Chinese Communist news agency, and the news
agencies in other communist countries. All international events--those
dealing with the communist-bloc countries and those dealing with the
West--were integrated through these sources.

While Stalin lived, all of his dictates were followed to the letter,
including the duplication of the Soviet example in the strong verbal
campaign against Yugoslavia. When Nikita Khrushchev succeeded him and
subsequently made some semblance of peace with Yugoslavia, the Bulgarian
press followed suit. Similarly, when the Soviets quickly quelled the
Polish and Hungarian revolts, the Bulgarian press endorsed the Soviet
versions of these events. Strict control over the press was retained in
the early 1970s, and most news still emanated from the Soviet news
agency. Censorship was seldom required, however, since all editors were
by this time acutely aware of their responsibilities to the party.

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