Informing the Bulgarian Public on Political Events in Yugoslavia

The aim of this project was to supply the Bulgarian public with first-hand information on the development of political events in Yugoslavia from the perspective of the Yugoslav opposition. This was undertaken after analysis showed that the Bulgarian mainstream media were being informed on Yugoslavia either by the Milosevic regime or by the international media, and both sources were found to be inadequate, albeit in different respects.

What happened was a series of visits by Yugoslav opposition leaders, political scientists and election monitors- Dragoljub Micunovic, Chair of the Democratic Centre, member of Dos, Prof. Vladimir Goati, political scientist from CeSID (an NGO monitoring the elections in Yugoslavia), Milan Nicolic, political analyst from the NGO Center for the Study of Alternatives, Ivan Vejvoda, political scientists and Executive director of OSF-Belgrade, and Zoran Lucic, director of CeSID. The format used varied: a public lecture plus discussion (Micunovic), presentation/discussion with Bulgarian political scientists and journalists (Vejvoda), and two press conferences.

Period: May 2000 - December 2000

Coordinators: Deyan Kiuranov

Financing Organisations: United States Information Service, Sofia