For more than two decades, digitalization and technological advances have transformed the way we communicate and inform ourselves. They have affected our understanding of the world culturally and socially. Contemporary professional journalism and news production have long been part of a broader news and information ecosystem, operating in a digital environment, connected to other social systems and interacting with other cultural forms. This global process is fundamentally changing audiences, communication environments, the editorial process of news media organization and production, it is also influencing the content, reach and distribution of news. The process of technological change and digitalization affects all spheres of society - economy, politics, science, education.
Part of the mega-processes of globalization and digitalization of human activity and societies, of media ecosystems everywhere in the world, Bulgarian journalism is transforming in the conditions of complex processes of transition, of dramatic reversals in the media economy, politics, professional and discursive practices. In periods of transformations and crises, journalism and the media as public institutions find themselves in risky situations of various kinds, threatening freedom of speech, professional standards, and ultimately - pluralism and democracy. At the same time, the media industry is evolving in an environment of uncertainty, with unfavourable economic indicators - rising costs and shrinking household spending - and global issues such as news avoidance and news fatigue, as well as the risk that "economic weakness will make news organisations even more dependent on government advertising", are leading to turmoil and profound disruptions affecting the media and its functioning.
The professional community around the world and at home, researchers and scholars are watching with attention and concern where free journalism is threatened, where freedom of the press is violated or cannot be exercised at all, where journalists are attacked and media diversity is limited.
Invariably, risks and transformations affect the quality of journalism, consumer demand and audience engagement. All of these, and other risks to journalism and the media as a public institution, are global and do not affect Bulgaria alone. Their significance has raised the research interest of scholars and practitioners, and separate studies are being conducted. Unfortunately, a comprehensive, sustainable and replicable methodology for analysing the complex state of media, news production and consumption, both in individual countries and globally, has not yet been applied.