In her newly published study Vera Slavtcheva-Petkova, of University of Chester analyzes over 1500 comments by national newspapers’ online readers in Bulgaria. She investigates readers’ reactions to articles discussing the media war between the biggest press groups and explores how these stories influence the relationship between newspapers and their readers, and whether they enhance the democratic potential of online discussion.

The study shows that although a very small proportion of online readers actually comment on newspaper articles, still in comparison with established democracies considerably more Bulgarians engage in conversations.

Read the article here. (abstract public)

Picture: BG by Michał Paluchowski, licence: CC BY 2.0