site.btaPresident Radev: "Truth Owed to Public, Journalists Bound to Seek, Uphold It"

"News is written by journalists, but it 'belongs' to the people. Truth is owed to the public and you are the ones called upon to seek and uphold it," Bulgarian President Rumen Radev wrote in a greetings address to the 30th General Assembly of the Association of the Balkan News Agencies - Southeast Europe (ABNA-SE).

"In the 21st century, information channels multiply on a daily basis, attempts at lies and manipulation easily reach more people than ever, and political, corporate, and economic interests benefit from that," Radev observed. "This new reality makes the mission of journalists even more responsible and difficult - not just to convey information, but to present what is happening in context, distinguishing facts from their interpretations, recalling the background. I believe that it is through the combined efforts of agency journalists upholding the sanctity of facts and professional standards for accurate and objective presentation of information that a lie can be quashed before it goes around the world."

He describes the Balkan News Room as a valuable initiative because "we need to keep our ties, and we need to be able to understand each other without foreign mediation. Because partners and friends need no intermediaries to be united and strong, and to recognize the truth."