The Council for Electronic Media elected Alexander Velev as the new Director General of the Bulgarian National Radio. Velev was elected out of 12 candidates for the position. Alexander Velev has already been at the head of the Radio in the period 1998-2001. During the hearing at the CEM he suggested that mass media experts from outside the radio should be invited to join the Programme Council of BNR, sociologists among others. He also suggested the creation of a joint newsroom for all BNR programmes, regional radio stations included. Alexander Velev opposed the idea for the merging of the Bulgarian National Radio with the Bulgarian National Television with the argument that it would result in turning the BNR into a media of lesser importance and not into a media equal to the BNT.