The Communication Strategy of Slaveikov’s Newspaper “Macedonia” (1866-1872)

Abstract: The proposed analysis is devoted to issues related to one of the most outstanding examples of Bulgarian Renaissance periodicals – Petko Rachov Sla¬veykov’s newspaper Macedonia. The printed organ, published in Constantinople in the period 1866-1872, played a significant role in shaping public opinion on a number of key issues of the era, shaping the agenda of Bulgarians within the Ottoman political body. The main purpose of this paper is to show how, with a well-established communication strategy, the publisher and editor-in-chief managed to focus public attention on the fundamental issues for the still-forming Bulgarian nation at that time: education and enlightenment, the struggle for an independent exarchate, popular education and, last but not least, the situating of the expectations and dreams of the Balkan peoples amidst the Eastern Question, still not fully resolved by the Great Powers. In this sense, we will trace, through an analysis of quotations from primary source material, the directions in which Slaveikov led his readers (essentially also subscribers of the Macedonia newspaper), so that they would not remain far from the information flow of the time. Keywords: newspaper, Renaissance, Ottoman Empire, Slaveykov, Macedonia newspaper, communication, strategy.