During the 40-minute flight from Sofia to Varna, where I was going join the second part of the meeting, I was thinking over my impressions by the official opening in the ceremonial hall in the University of Sofia and my expectations from the program and the participants… In my ears tingled the deep voice of Krishna Das, the popular performer of Indian kirtans, which together with the view reminded me how fleeting and insignificant some of our worries, actions and problems are.

The first day of the meeting started with two topics of discussion, which I briefly discussed in the article “The future of the media is internet and digital TV”. Here are some interesting comments, by the participants of the discussions:

·          The Romanian community in Spain is the biggest foreign community – nearly 750 thousand. Romania takes care of them – direct investments in supporting the Romanian press abroad. The Bulgarian media abroad does not receive any financial help.

·          About 80% of the state laws, approved and ratified by the national parliaments, are prepared in the European parliament. This obvious reference to the upcoming Euro-parliament elections hinted the growing integration on the Old continent – a process, which can easily be aided by the online media, because the internet does not have any limitations and technology can overcome language barriers.

·          The advertising market, which based on unofficial data is about BGN 200-250 million (?102-?128 million), will shrink with almost 50% for the current year. The crisis affects advertising in the traditional media – newspapers and TV, and the low-cost media, like the one online is growing.