| Newspaper Name: |
Стършел |
| Newspaper name in English: |
The Hornet |
| Owner: |
Стършел и половина |
| Country / Region: |
Bulgaria (Sofia) |
| Language: |
Bulgarian |
| Format type: |
Newspaper |
| Category: |
Humour, cartoons |
| Political alignment: |
None |
| Frequency: |
Weekly |
| Publication Years (print version): |
1946 — now (77 years) |
| ISSN: |
0205-1273 |
| Circulation: |
10,000 (2015) |
| Official Pages: |
|
| Website: |
starshel.bg [read with translation] |
|
The newspaper with name «Стършел» was first published in Bulgaria by the Polish journalist and war correspondent Witold Pekarski in 1896, it was a humorous author's publication with cartoons. Despite the fact that it was published only for a few months, today it is considered the prototype of the modern «Strshel» newspaper. Translated from Bulgarian into English, the newspaper's name means «Hornet» (which stings sharply).
In 1946, the publication was relaunched. It was conceived as a response of left-wing intellectuals to a popular satirical page in the newspaper of the Bulgarian Agricultural People's Union «Народно земеделско знаме» («Narodnoe zemedelsko Zname»). At first, the newspaper was not associated with the Communists, but they quickly saw it as an important tool of struggle, and in 1951 «Hornet» became the main publication of the Central Committee of the Bulgarian Communist Party. The main tools of this newspaper were satire and sharp cartoons. Here they exposed the stupidities and vices of society, set a course for the right values.
Strshel flourished in the 1960s, and materials from this newspaper were even used in USSR on TV programs. In the future, the publication's popularity (as well as communism in general) declined. Especially difficult for the newspaper were the years after the fall of communism and the country's transition to a capitalist system, its editorial staff was on the verge of bankruptcy, but managed to survive-the publication of the newspaper was not interrupted even in those difficult times. But it wasn't just about the financial side, readers' preferences and humor itself changed, and every year it became more and more difficult to find interesting topics for the publication. Today, the editorial staff consists of only 4 people: 3 authors (Michaud Veshim, Rumen Belchev and Sergey Traikov) and a cartoonist Ivaylo Ninov. Contents: Каква стана тя (Country as it is), З-з-заядлив коментар (sarcastic comments), Карикатури, На къси редове (In short), Вицове (jokes), Klasika in the genre (classic stories, retro), Konkurs. To grasp the essence of the content of this newspaper, the reader will need thoughtfulness and concentration, which is completely unpopular today, so the main readers of the newspaper are real connoisseurs of high-quality humor, intellectuals, writers.
