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bTV with a new current affairs show on international topics “bTV World”

The show starts on March 15 and will be broadcast every Saturday at 12:30 with hosts Kristina Baksanova and Ivan Georgiev

bTV launches a new current affairs show „bTV World“ on March 15, bringing more international topics to viewers. The show will provide additional context to global events and explore their impact on Europe and Bulgaria. Experienced journalists Kristina Baxanova and Ivan Georgiev will host the new show, which viewers can watch every Saturday at 12:30 on bTV.

„bTV World“ will provide viewers with clear and reliable information on world developments and news, as well as a comprehensive overview of key issues affecting the European Union. Through author analysis by the hosts, weekly interviews with experts on international affairs and reports from bTV's correspondents in Europe and the US, the show will examine key issues that shape and influence the global political and public arena. bTV and CME's permanent correspondent for the European institutions, Desislava Mincheva, will follow and report on all important aspects of life in the EU and NATO.

According to research commissioned by bTV, the need to have a fundamental, holistic knowledge of the world and society, to have the explanations, the relationships between the elements, rather than just situational knowledge, is one of the key insights for TV viewers. (Qualitative research, Noema, May 2023, 18-49). Therefore, different perspectives will be found in the show to help viewers better navigate and understand the changing world.

„The world is in turmoil, with global phenomena constantly changing international order and affecting the lives of millions. Our goal is to educate and engage viewers on important issues and point them to reliable sources of information in a world full of uncertainty, challenges and misinformation. Through the new show, we want to help viewers better understand world events and their impact in a local context,“ said Ralf Bartoleit, CEO of bTV Media Group.

„bTV World“ will provide more information on current international issues. Every day we receive different stories from around the world - some true, some false. We will show what is really happening. That is the exciting part! With the international team of bTV News, our reporters and correspondents abroad, we will take viewers to „hot spots“ and tell them more stories from the scene. And very often our compatriots abroad turn out to be witnesses. In the program, we will ask questions to separate fact from opinion and to clarify controversial points. We will also look for the different stories that inspire and change the world,“ says Kristina Baxanova.

„Watching, listening to and reading world news is like looking through a window - we see what is going on somewhere out there, near or far, but the glass always reflects a small part of the inside of the room we are in. And we always see a little bit of ourselves in it, too. All the world events and processes we have reflected on over the years have brought us back home, to our homeland, to ask ourselves: How would we react? What about us? And where do we stand among other nations? I sincerely believe that the new show „bTV World“ will be such a window through which we will observe the world but also understand something small and new about ourselves.“ – says Ivan Georgiev.

Who are the hosts of "bTV World"?

Kristina Baksanova is Head of International News at bTV. She has worked as a reporter and anchor for bTV News since its inception in 2000. Since 2016, she has headed the international department of “News and Current Affairs” and is the author of a number of documentaries for bTV Documents and bTV Reporters.

Kristina Baxanova has been following and reporting on major events and political developments in various European countries and the Balkans for many years. She has had numerous specializations in Europe and knows well the work of European media. She identifies the terrorist attacks in Europe, the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine as the biggest challenges for bTV's on-air coverage in recent years.

Kristina Baxanova is a lecturer at the Faculty of Journalism at Sofia University „St. Kliment Ohridski“, where she also defended her doctoral thesis in international journalism. She is the patron of the German „Jugend debattiert“ student debates.

Ivan Georgiev is an anchor and reporter for bTV News. He has been a part of the media since 2006, and in 2014 he started to lead the news with Lilyana Boyanova. As a news anchor and reporter for bTV, Ivan Georgiev is known to viewers for his coverage of leading issues and events from Bulgaria, the region and the world. Over the past 13 years, his work on major international issues has included events from Taksim Square in Istanbul, various social, ethnic and political upheavals and processes in North Macedonia, Kosovo, Serbia, Romania and Turkey, to the terrorist attacks on the Charlie Hebdo newsroom and the Bataclan Hall in Paris, refugee crises in the Balkans, major natural disasters such as the devastating earthquakes in Nepal and Turkey.

Ivan Georgiev has covered armed conflicts in Iraq, Nagorno-Karabakh, Syria and the Russian aggression in Ukraine, as well as a number of key elections in the US and the UK. He is the author of the documentary “Macedonia - the last project of the Comintern”, as well as dozens of episodes and the series “bTV Reporters”. He has received numerous awards and is a Fellow of the World Press Institute in the USA.