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.

In contrast to the natural press, the provincial press concentrated on local matters. It included, in addition to a few regularly published newspapers, a variety of new types of publications, such as multicirculators—which were wall posters—and the so-called bumblebees, which were letters of accusation pointing out alleged failures of particular individuals to maintain acceptable social standards or to attain programmed economic goals. In broad terms, all these publications were designed to indoctrinate specific groups of people, generally in their places of work. The multicirculators called on workers to support the economic goals of the government and promised them rewards if they fulfilled the required objectives (see table 10).

Table 10. Bulgaria, Newspaper Circulation by Frequency of Issue, 1971

Frequency of IssueNumberAnnual Circulation
(in thousands)
Daily 13611,900
Two to four times per week 31108,181
Weekly 58100,880
Less than once per week604 16,533
TOTAL706837,494

In the early 1970s the style of Bulgarian newspapers remained essentially the same as in the mid-1940s. National daily newspapers ordinarily had four pages, but sometimes had from six to eight pages when there was vital news to cover. Headlines were often printed in red, but stories and articles were in black print. Since the late 1960s or early 1970s advertising increased, and newspapers began to resemble their Western counterparts to a greater extent.

In 1972 thirteen daily newspapers were published, eight of which were printed in Sofia. Rabotnichesko Delo was a descendant of the first workers' newspaper, which was begun in 1897. It led both in importance and circulation, was the primary organ of the BKP, and set the tone for all other newspapers in the country. In 1950 it had a daily circulation of 364,500 copies, and by 1960 its circulation had risen to 567,360. In 1972 this newspaper had a total circulation of approximately 650,000 copies. The second most important daily newspaper published in Sofia was the Otechestven Front, the organ of the government. This publication was initiated as an underground newspaper in 1942. As of 1972 it claimed a daily circulation of 247,000.

The other Sofia dailies and their circulations were: Zemedelsko Zname, 168,000; Narodna Mladez, the newspaper for youth, 225,000; Trud, the organ of the trade unions, 200,000; Narodna Armiya, an organ of the Ministry of National Defense, 50,000; Vecherni Novini, founded in 1951, an evening newspaper, 40,000; and Kooperativno Selo, the organ of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry, 230,000. The major provincial dailies were Otechestven Glas (in Plovdiv), Narodno Delo (in Varna), Chernomorski Front (in Burgas), Dunavska Pravda (in Ruse), and Pirinsklo Delo (in Blagoevgrad) (see table 11).

Table 11. Bulgaria, Circulation of Newspapers and Periodicals, Selected Years, 1939-71

1939194819601971
Newspapers:
Annual circulation*130,297 345,905 602,813 837,494
Annual circulation per capita 20.7 48.5 76.6 98.1
Periodicals:
Number 393 246 151 963
Annual circulation* 11,208 10,421 20,923 48,605
Average annual issues per capita 1.8 1.5 2.7 5.7
* In thousands