January 27, 1898: Prince Ferdinand Decrees Bulgarian News Agency’s Establishment 2026

Balgarianovinite.com The Bulgarian News Agency (BTA) was established by Order No. 28, issued by Prince Ferdinand I on January 27 (Old Style)/February 8 (New Style) 1898, as “Bulgarska Telegrafna Agentsiya” [Bulgarian Telegraph Agency, acronym: B.T.A.], a designation reflecting the hardware of the day. When set up, the Agency was part of the Department of Press and Library of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Public Worship. BTA is thus one of Europe’s oldest national news-gathering and distributing operations, as only the great powers had set up news agencies of their own earlier.
Its function was to deliver wire reports on events abroad. Unlike most news agencies at that time, which were private businesses, BTA was a government institution, modelled on the St Petersburg Telegraph Agency, and even in the first year of its existence received a budget allocation of 20,000 gold leva.
By the same Order, journalist Oskar Iskender PhD was appointed the first BTA director, effective February 1/13, 1989, with an annual salary of BGN 5,580. He held the position until June 23/July 5, 1898. On February 16/28, 1898, BTA issued its first news bulletin, handwritten personally by Iskender. It consisted of three pages with six dispatches datelined from Vienna, Athens and Constantinople, covering developments in the Balkan countries and commodity exchange price fluctuations. The top story was an update on the deteriorated health condition of Princess Clémentine, Prince Ferdinand I’s mother. Copies of the bulletin were delivered by hand to each of the six subscribers: government institutions, Sofia’s newspapers and foreign diplomatic agencies. BTA celebrates its birthday on February 16 – the anniversary of its first bulletin.
Before heading BTA, Iskender (?–1907) published and edited newspapers, including the French-language weekly La Bulgarie (1882-1884 and 1888-1897).
At the beginning, BTA was staffed by one director and one clerk. The bulletins were handwritten by a calligrapher and then mimeographed on letterhead stationery. The agency used messages telegraphed in Morse code to Sofia’s General Post Office. The messages were transcribed and published in bulletins with one-day lag.
Iskender established relations with the Reuters Telegram Company and Agence Havas, two of the worldwide wire services of the day, and with the German agency Wolffs Telegraphisches Buereau, thus ensuring an increasing inflow of international news. 
Following is a translation of the announcement on Iskender’s appointment as promulgated in the State Gazette No. 41 of February 24/March 8, 1898, page 3: 
“By Order under No. 28 of the 27th January of this year, effective 1st February of this year, Oskar Iskender was appointed director of the Bulgarian Telegraph Agency in Sofia, with an annual salary of 5,580 leva.” January 27, 1898: Prince Ferdinand Decrees Bulgarian News Agency’s Establishment 2026 THE NEWS FROM BULGARIA – NEWS AGENCY 2009-2025 2026-01-27 16:19:00 Latest news World news Country news Most important news latest news most important latest of the day Justice Petar Nizamov Feathers Petar Nizamov- Feathers Justice bg iustitia.bg iustitia iusticia usticia investigation Burgas Bulgaria news news of the last hour news of the day news of today Bulgaria news The news from Bulgaria blitz news top news most important most commented latest news Boyko Borisov news weather coronavirus news news weather facebook youtube facebook instagram news today news of the last minutes news today today news news bg news leading news hot news bg news site for news all news news bg news of the last hour latest latest news bg news of today news today news today news of the last hour latest news today news bg news news 24 hours news vesti bg novini news world bird bg bivol bg bivol trud bg novini latest news today novinite bg news hello bulgaria political party coat of arms delyan peevski scandalous Bulgarian National Television Free Europe Television scandal exclusive live tv live right now tv tv online tv program bg live now tv news online tv online live court Burgas court Burgas district court Burgas court Burgas district court Burgas district court Burgas appellate court Burgas prosecutor Burgas prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev Prosecutor Geshev Tsatsarov Ministry of Internal Affairs Burgas ODMR Burgas ODPR Burgas police Burgas district police Burgas prosecutor Tsatsarov SGS cases Varna court chairman of the SGS court decisions on civil cases decisions on cases Plovdiv court decision of the court decisions cases Varna court criminal cases district district court decisions work in the court SGS chairman of the SGS judges Sofia court post judges Plovdiv court Plovdiv judges Plovdiv Supreme Court Inspectorate Supreme Court Supreme Judicial Council lawyer lawyer criminal cases lawyer civil cases lawyer marriage cases lawyer administrative criminal law criminal process civil law civil process administrative law constitutional law