The Czech Media Landscape

The Czech Media Landscape (version before the final editing 2008) The return of freedom of expression to the Czech society and the fast introduction of the market economy were two main elements that influenced media development after the political change in November 1989. The rejection of the former totalitarian political system by Czech society was profound, and led to the long-lasting support for the concept of political and economic reform, in which the role of the state is to be as small as possible, and where free market forces are to govern society as a whole, including the mass media. That was the political climate in which the privatization of entire industries, including the media, took place. The separation of the former federal state of Czechoslovakia into two independent states, the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic, in 1993, had no major impact on the media, which were organized in the both parts of the federation already before the split. The state federal media Czechoslovak Radio and Czechoslovak Television were dissolved on 31 December 1992. The Czech Republic has a size of a medium European state with the area of 78,886 sq km and with the population of 10.2 million people. Besides the Czech capital, Prague, with 1.2 million inhabitants, there are only four towns with populations exceeding 100 thousand people. The largest of them, Brno, has 370,000 inhabitants. National minorities (Slovak, German, Polish, Roma) are rather small, their media does not play any significant role at the Czech media landscape. Besides, the largest minority, Slovaks, understand Czech language, which is similar to Slovak language. Slovaks living in the Czech Republic usually consume either the Czech media or the Slovak media imported into the Czech Republic from Slovakia. 1. The Market A. The Print Media Main features: Nine national dailies make two-thirds of the newspaper market; Sold circulation of newspapers is declining, only the boulevard press grows; The regional press is nearly completely controlled by a single publisher – VLP; Both, newspaper and magazine, publishers are mostly foreign owned. The number of national daily newspapers is – with regard to the size of the Czech media market – rather high. The nine national dailies make up two-thirds of the newspaper market. The share of local and regional dailies is about 30 per cent. Nearly all of the daily press, with the exception of the leftist daily Právo and communist daily Haló noviny, are foreign owned. From the point of view of ownership, no publisher occupies any monopoly or dominant position in the national daily press. The boulevard daily Blesk (Flash) ranks first (average circulation in 2006: 480,000 copies). The Blesk was launched by the Swiss company Ringier in 1992, and modelled on Swiss tabloid Blick or German Bild. Blesk is a cornerstone of Ringier’s publishing business in the Czech Republic, which encompasses another national daily, Sport (66,000 copies), the weekly Nedělní Blesk (Blesk on Sunday – 300,000 copies, and several magazines (see below). The second most sold newspaper is MF Dnes (MF Today – 300,000 copies), a descendant of the former socialist youth organization daily Mladá Fronta, which perished in 1990. The publisher of the paper is Mafra a.s., owned by Rheinisch-Bergische Verlagsgeselschaft (RBVG). The same German investor publishes another Czech national daily, Lidové noviny (The People’s Daily – 70,000 copies). The third place at the circulation chart occupies Právo (The Right – 165,000 copies), a descendant of the former Communist Party daily Rudé právo (The Red Right), which severed all ties with its former publisher in December 1990. The Pravo’s publishing company, Borgis a.s., was originally owned by editors and reporters of the paper. Later on, the editor-in-chief, Zdeněk Porybný, acquired the majority. Unlike all the other Czech newspapers, which are distributed by newsagents, the daily Hospodářské noviny (The Economic Daily – 63,000 copies) relies mainly on subscriptions. Its publisher, Economia a.s., is owned by publishing group Verlagsgruppe Handelsblatt, represented by the HB-DJ-Investment B.V., which is connected to the Dow Jones Group. In the situation in which the sold circulation of newspapers has been declining, and only the boulevard press has tendency to grow, two extra national boulevard dailies were launched in 2005-2006: Šíp (The Arrow – 60,000 copies) and Aha! (80,000 copies). Life expectancy of these projects is uncertain. Besides national daily papers, about 80 regional and local papers are published in the Czech Republic, most of them by the publisher Vltava-Labe-Press (VLP), owned by the German publishing house Verlagsgruppe Passau and its company POL-Print Medien GmbH. In 2000, the VGP consolidated several of its Czech companies, including the publishers Vltava and Labe, into one big company, Vltava-Labe-Press. The next year VLP took control over all regional press in the Czech Republic thanks to an arrangement with other German publishers. In September 2006, VLP unified different headers of the regional newspapers. All of them contain the word “Deník” (The Daily) with regional adjectives, eg. Pražský deník, Brněnský deník, etc. The local identity represents a section inside the paper with local news. Verlagsgruppe Passau was one of the three German publishing groups which invested into the Czech newspaper industry after 1989. The other two were Rheinisch-Bergische Verlagsgesellschaft (RBVG) and Mittlerhein Verlag (MRV). All of them took part in both the national and regional newspaper business. After several years of competition, the German investors reached a mutual agreement about division of interest and on the future of Czech regional press. The RBVG and MRV passed their regional dailies to the Passauer VGP group, which became a monopolist in the Czech regional press. MRV pulled out of the publishing industry in the Czech Republic and remains active only in the Czech printing industry. As a result of this arrangement, RVBG became a minority (20%) owner of the POL-Print Medien GmbH. The first free Czech daily, Metro, published by Swedish MTG and distributed in Prague since July 1997, has been facing new competitors since 2005. Ringier, publisher of the tabloid Blesk, entered the free paper market with the free daily 24 hodin (24 hours) in November 2005. Mafra, publisher of the daily MF Dnes, launched another free paper, Metropolitní Expres (Metropolitan Express), in April 2006. The major part of the Czech magazine market is controlled by foreigners as well. Foreign publishers seized the opportunity to bring to the Czech magazine market clones of their home products (e.g. Burda, Bravo, Tina, Reader’s Digest, Chip, Autotip, etc.) after 1989. However, some of the elder Czech magazines have survived the challenging market economy environment, and several new projects emerged after 1989 as well. While there is a plenty of lifestyle magazines for women, girls, family or home, only three or four magazines, launched after the Velvet Revolution (Respekt, Reflex, Týden), have some ambition to be more than a lifestyle and an entertainment media. Respekt is the successor of an opposition samizdat paper from 1989, whose readership consists mainly of intellectuals (16,000 copies). Reflex (55,000) stands on the borderline between a current affairs periodical and a “society” glossy. Týden (The Week – 52,000) tries to be a newsmagazine of western style. Czech business weeklies are represented by the periodicals Ekonom (The Economist – 22,000), Euro (24,000) and Profit (14,500). The Czech magazine market is a rather stable one; the spheres of influence have been divided already in the 90s. Finnish Sanoma Magazines International (SMI) has a strong position in women’s and lifestyle magazines. The publishing house Ringier ČR is active not only in the daily press (Blesk, Sunday’s Blesk, Sport), but also in the magazine market. Besides the above-mentioned weekly Reflex, Ringier prints several TV guides, and a bi-weekly for young readers. Bauer Verlag’s company Europress has a dominant position in societal and lifestyle cheap weeklies. Axel Springer Verlag publishes teenager monthlies, the auto-moto magazines and a computer magazine. Bertelsmann, which is active mainly in Czech book publishing, teamed together with the Verlagsgruppe Passau in a join venture, Astrosat. Astrosat publishes weekly magazines, which serve as supplements of VLP regional dailies. Another joint venture of foreign publishers, the company Vogel Burda Communications, specializes in technical and computer magazines. Only 34.5 per cent of the total advertising revenue flows into the print media, while the television media enjoys 50 per cent share of disposable advertising revenue (about 18 billion crowns; 630 million euro). 2. The Broadcast Media Main features: The four terrestrial channels, two public, two private, enjoy 90 per cent of TV audience The TV public service broadcaster operates four channels (two digital) with 30 per cent audience share Both dominant private networks TV Nova and TV Prima are foreign owned The penetration of cable and satellite television is low Two digital satellite services operate in the Czech Republic – UPC Direct and Digi TV Digital terrestrial TV broadcasting was launched on a regular basis only by the public broadcaster Czech Television in October 2005 The other digital terrestrial TV broadcasts are supposed to be launched in 2007 after the quarrels about digital licensing will be cleared; Experiments with digital radio broadcasting DAB was halted in 2005. Czech Republic introduced a full-fledged dual public-private system in both the radio and the television broadcasting in the years 1991 to 1994. There are four terrestrial nationwide television channels available: two public service channels, CT1 and CT2, and two private commercial channels, TV Nova and TV Prima. Besides, twelve local TV stations in the regions operate mainly as a local “window” programme, sharing frequencies with the overall frame of the TV Prima broadcast system. The four nationwide channels enjoy more than 90 per cent of the total television audience. The market leader is the TV Nova with 41 per cent audience share. Another private channel, Prima, got the attention of 23 per cent of viewers, both channels of public service television CT1 and CT2 attracted 30 per cent audience share in 2005. It means that only 6 per cent of the TV audience were allocated to the cable and satellite channels. This situation stems from low penetration of cable and satellite in Czech households, and from a rather short supply of Czech TV programming services on cable and on satellite, where most of the channels are the foreign ones (Eurosport, HBO, Discovery, Animal Planet, MTV, etc.). Since the major part of the Czech population lives in smaller towns, up to ten thousand inhabitants, building of cable networks was not profitable, and availability of cable TV is restricted to the densely populated area of the larger towns. With the perspective of digital broadcasting, several new cable and satellite Czech channels emerged since 2002. Among them are two public service channels: the news channel CT24 (2005) and the sport channel CT4 Sport (2006), and private television channels Ocko (music - 2002), Top TV (teleshopping - 2005), Galaxie Sport (sport - 2002) and others. The strong position of TV Nova has historical roots because the channel, when launched in February 1994, received the frequencies of the former Czechoslovak federal channel F1 with 100 per cent coverage. TV Prima, the very first Czech private commercial TV, which started in June 1993 as a small Prague local station, TV Premiera, later, after 1995, evolved into the nationwide channel. The owner of TV Nova is the American company Central European Media Enterprises (CME), which operates several other television stations in Central and Eastern Europe (Slovakia, Romania, Slovenia, Croatia, Ukraine). The Prima TV Holding company, which operates the TV Prima channel, is controlled by 50/50 partnership of the Czech investment group GES Holding and Scandinavian Modern Times Group (MTG). The public service broadcaster Czech Television (CT), established by the Act 483/91 as an independent public service corporation, is a descendant of the former state Czechoslovak Television, whose record of regular broadcasting commenced in 1953. The Czech Television separated from the Czechoslovak Television in January 1992. After the split of Czechoslovakia in January 1993, CT became only public television broadcaster in the country. CT is funded by a TV licence fee, which is levied on every household with a TV set. The additional revenues come from commercials and sponsorship. The advertising time in CT broadcast has been limited for 1 per cent of total broadcasting time so far. An amendment of the Czech Television Act of 2005 determined that the amount of commercials in CT shall be gradually decreased, and since January 2008 the advertising in the public service channels CT1 and CT2 shall wholly disappear. Unlike the other European public service broadcasters, the Czech Television and the public broadcaster Czech Radio are not associated in one organization; they are separate and detached bodies. The history of Czech Radio is similar to the Czech Television’s. Like the Czech Television, the Czech Radio is funded by a radio licence fee together with commercials and sponsorship and other commercial activities, which together make about 15 per cent of the total income. Czech Radio operates networks of seven stations, from which three have fully nationwide coverage. CRo1 Radiozurnal is a 24-hour news and current affairs station. CRo2 Praha is a family station. CRo3 Vltava is a culture station. CRo4 Radio Wave targets to teenagers. CRo5 Regina consists of the regional stations programmes. CRo6 is an AM current affairs station with broadcasting time limited to the afternoon and evening hours. CRo7 is a short-wave international broadcasting station. Apart from radio programmes broadcasted by the public service broadcaster Český rozhlas (Czech Radio) there are 77 other radio stations, among them two – Frekvence 1 and Impuls – with nationwide coverage. Among the Czech private radio broadcasters there is no dominant station with a position comparable to that of television Nova in the television market. The three stations with the largest audience share are Čro1 Radiožurnál, operated by the public service Czech Radio, and two commercial nationwide radio stations, Frekvence 1 and Radio Impuls. All of them have nearly the same share of the listening public, between 10 to 12 per cent. The rest of the audience share is dispersed among 70 other private local stations, some of which are interconnected into co-operating mini-networks (e.g. Evropa 2, Radio Hey). From the point of view of the ownership, the most powerful position in the radio market is occupied by a group of French investors Lagardere Active Radio International SA, which consists of a nationwide station, Frekvence 1, a set of the stations Evropa 2 and a media sales agency Radio Regie Music (RRM). The second largest private broadcaster, the nation-wide station Radio Impuls, is controlled by a joint venture of radio broadcasters from Eastern Germany, the investment consortium Eurocast Rundfunk Beteiligungs GmbH. About 70 per cent of households receive television broadcasting terrestrially only. The cable companies claim that about 1.2 million households could be connected; however, only 700,000 of them, i.e. 20 per cent, have subscribed. The satellite penetration varies between 9 and 15 per cent of households. The cable market is controlled by two companies, UPC Czech and Karneval, which are going to merge on condition that the Czech Office for the Protection of Competition will endorse it. Karneval currently has 310,000 subscribers, of whom 57,000 have broadband Internet access, while UPC has 420,000 subscribers for its cable and satellite services, with around 100,000 receiving broadband Internet access. The digital satellite service UPC Direct, launched in September 2000 offers to its clients more than thirty TV channels in Czech language, apart from dozens of foreign channel not localized in Czech. Number of subscribers in 2006: 120,000 households. New digital satellite service Digi TV, based in Romania with services in Hungary and Slovakia, entered the Czech market in autumn 2006. Number of channels supplied by the service is smaller; however the subscription fee is considerably lower. Since 2000 the digital terrestrial broadcasting has been tested locally in Prague. In July 2004 the Czech Telecommunication Office has granted a set of permits for operation of three DVB-T networks/multiplexes, “A”, “B”, “C”, to the Czech Radiocommunications (CRa), the Czech Digital Group (CDG) and to the Cesky Telecom (today’s Telefónica O2). The regular DVB-T started in October 2005 on the multiplex “A” in Prague only. The multiplex “A” was assigned to public service channels CT1, CT2, CT24, CT4 Sport), whose licences are based on the Czech Television Act. The initial broadcasting in Prague was extended to other towns Brno and Ostrava in February 2006. The other multiplexes operate still on the experimental temporary basis, due to the unclear situation as to their licensed programming services. The Council for Radio and Television Broadcasting (RRTV) has allocated six new digital licences to commercial broadcasters in April 2006. Because courts allowed the appeals of failed licence applicants, among them TV Nova, the licensing process has to start from the very beginning again. When the new digital channels will go on the air is not clear today. Experiments with digital radio broadcasting DAB have been halted after several years of testing by the Czech Radio Communications company. The digital radio broadcasting is going to be incorporated as a part of the DVB-T traffic. C. The Internet Media Main features: The rate of Internet use is low compared to the EU average; Czechs are using Internet more at their workplace than in their homes; All the traditional media has its online versions, the number one webpage operated by a traditional media publisher is idnes.cz; The most visited Internet portal is Seznam.cz. About one-third of the Czech population regularly use the Internet. In comparison with the more developed countries like Finland, Germany, United States, Czechs are using Internet more at their workplaces than in their homes. The Czech Republic ranks in the OECD Broadband Statistics at the 24th place with 650,000 total broadband subscribers, i.e. six people out of hundred have access to high-speed Internet. Since 1995, when the first private Internet providers broke monopoly of the state telecoms, plenty of informative websites have emerged. Some of them turned later into the full-fledged Internet portals, which either co-operates with, or are directly operated by, the big media organizations. The website www.seznam.cz is the most visited Internet portal, whose news sections, www.novinky.cz and www.super.cz, are supplied by the daily Pravo and by the local tabloid SuperSpy. The second most visited portal, www.centrum.cz, launched its own online daily, www.aktualne.cz, in October 2005. The third most visited portal, www.atlas.cz, is connected to the news service of the Czech wire agency CTK. The publishing house Mafra runs its own news website, www.idnes.cz. Also, the other media launched websites with services, in which its range depends on the size and on the scope of activities of their publishers. Among them are www.lidovky.cz (Lidové noviny), www.ihned.cz (Hospodářské noviny), www.blesk.cz (tabloid Blesk), www.denik.cz (Vltava-Labe-Press), www.ct24.cz (Czech Television), www.cro.cz (Czech Radio), www.ceskenoviny.cz (CTK) and others. D. News Agencies Main features: There is only one full service news agency, CTK; CTK offers text, picture, video and audio news, infographics and other services. The Czech News Agency (CTK) is the only Czech full service information agency in the Czech Republic. CTK supply the Czech media with the text, audio, and, since March 2006, some video news content. CTK is an independent and economically self-supporting public service company, controlled by the CTK Council, appointed by Parliament. Neris, the subsidiary completely owned by the Czech News Agency, runs three news websites, www.ceskenoviny.cz (general news), www.sportovni noviny.cz (sport news) and www.financninoviny.cz (finance), and offers its clients specialized informational services based on text and audio and photo news services from CTK. 2. State Policies Main features: There are no state media in the Czech Republic; Its freedom is guaranteed by the Constitution and by the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms; There are no limits for foreign ownership in both print and broadcast media; Czech legislation is compatible with EU Directives; Publishers are responsible for observing general legal norms (Constitution, Civil Code, Penal Code, etc.); The public broadcasters’ activities are surveyed by the Czech Television and the Czech Radio Councils appointed by Parliament. All the Czech media are now in private hands. The only exceptions are the public broadcasting organizations Český rozhlas (Czech Radio), Česká televize (Czech television) and the news agency ČTK (Czech Press Agency), which are established by law, have a status of independent public corporations and are controlled by Parliament. Print media are not subject of any specific regulation. The Press Act stipulates that a publisher of media can be either any natural or any legal person possessing either Czech or foreign citizenship, who registers the periodical at the Ministry of Culture. The Press Act defines the rights and duties of the publishers (e.g. right to reply, obligatory copies, etc.) but does not mention any provision regarding ownership or content of the media. Broadcast media are regulated by the Broadcasting Act on radio and television broadcasting. The Act set up the Council for Radio and Television Broadcasting (www.rrtv.cz), which is responsible for the licensing of private broadcasters and for supervising both private and public broadcasters as to their adherence to the provisions of the Broadcasting Act. The Czech Radio and the Czech Television have been established by a special Act, which stipulates the special rules and principles for their public mission and for public control of their activities. Both public service broadcasters are funded by the licence fee, whose rate is determined by a special Act approved by the Parliament. The Czech legislation is in accordance with the basic principles of the EU legislation, namely with the “Television Without Frontiers” Directive. Freedom of expression is guaranteed by the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms. The Czech Republic is a signatory to the European Convention of Human Rights. The journalists shall observe the Constitution and general legal norms, in particular the Civil Code and the Penal Code in respect of defamation. According to the Press Act and the Broadcasting Act, publishers and broadcasters are responsible for their published material. The accountability of public service media shall be preserved by the Councils of the media (Czech Television Council, Czech Radio Council, CTK Council), whose members, appointed by Parliament, represent various societal groups. The Czech Television Code adopted by the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Parliament “set out and establish the principles for the operation of public service television and thus become an effective instrument for ensuring that the objectives of public service television are fulfilled.” The Code also establishes an Ethics Panel of the Czech Television, the members of which will be appointed by the Director General of Czech Television. 3. Civil Society Organizations Main features: Two most important associations are UVDT for newspapers, APSV for commercial radio; Public and commercial television operators are members of the ATO association, which organizes the audience research for all of them; Only minor part of working journalists are members of the only professional association: The Union of Journalists; The Ethical Commission of the Union of Journalists handles complaints from the public; The advertising agencies, media and advertisers set up a self-regulation body: the Council for Advertising. The Czech media companies are associated in different associations in accordance with their branches of activity. Most of the print media publishers are members of the Czech Publishers Association (www.uvdt.cz), which use the audit services of the Audit Bureau of Circulation Czech Republic (www.abccr.cz). Czech private radio broadcasters established the Association of Private Radio Broadcasters (www.apsv.cz). Czech television broadcasters joined together in the Association of Television Organizations (www.ato.cz) for the purpose of financing the people meter–audience research operated by Mediaresearch company (www.mediaresearch.cz). The only working organization of journalists is the Union of the Czech Journalists. However, only a minority of active journalists are members of the association. The Union of Czech Journalists, the professional association of Czech journalists, set up the Ethical commission as an independent professional body of eleven members in 1998. The members of the Ethical commission are volunteers from the media and university world approved by the Union board. The general meeting of the Union approved the Code of journalists´ ethic, which is applicable for the Union members. An initiative of Czech advertising agencies, media and advertisers, led to the foundation of the Council for Advertising in 1994 as a non-profit organization by the association of advertisers, advertising agencies and media and became the first self-regulatory association from Central and Eastern Europe. 4. Development Trends Main features: The transition from analogue to digital terrestrial broadcasting is the main issue of Czech media development; Four digital multiplexes are to be operational in July 2007, however, their content is not decided yet; The growing consumption of online media stands behind ongoing decrease of consumption of traditional media; Television takes still the largest share of the advertising pie, the Internet‘s advertising money is growing. Nowadays the main issue of the Czech media policy is the transition from analogue to digital terrestrial broadcasting, which is marked by a lack of co-ordination between legislators and two regulators: the Council for Radio and Television Broadcasting and the Czech Telecommunication Office. A Law assigned the responsibility for transition to communication regulator CTU (Czech Telecommunication Office), which is working on the binding document “Technical Plan for Transition from Analogue to Digital Terrestrial Television Broadcasting” (TPP). The conflicts between incumbent private terrestrial broadcasters (TV Nova, TV Prima) and newly licensed channels have paralyzed the transition for the time being. The incumbent’s interest is to maintain their audiences as big as possible for as long as possible; therefore, they are trying to block the early switch-off date by way of court actions against the licensing body RRTV. However, the CTU is still determined to end analogue broadcasting in the year 2010. According to the TPP, the frequencies for four multiplexes networks, numbered 1-4, shall be available from July 2007. The maximal coverage shall be given to the multiplex No. 1, reserved for the public service Czech Television. The current multiplexes, “A”, “B”, “C”, shall be transformed into networks No.2-4, but there is still no decision about programming services to be allocated there. The recent merger between UPC and Karneval (see above) would on the one hand create a virtual monopoly in the Czech cable industry but on the other hand it should reduce the dominance of the incumbent telecommunication company Telefónica O2 in the provision of voice and Internet services. When launching the IPTV service in September 2006, Telefónica O2 entered the audio-visual media field. The newspapers are facing a small but permanent decrease in the circulation numbers, which is caused by growing consumption of online media and by emergence of free papers in the market. However, there is still the growth capacity in the advertising income. Despite declining sales, the print media publishers still have been increasing their turnovers. The ratio of the advertising expenditures is still in favour of television, which takes the largest share of advertising money available. The share of the Internet in the advertising pie is lagging behind the outdoor and radio ads spending, however, the gap is getting smaller. Due to the current political instability in the Czech Republic, caused by election results without any winner in 2006, there is no perspective of any radical change in media legislation. That does not rule out a possibility that the process of media digitalization may bring about some necessary amendments in the existing media law. 5. References & Sources for Further Information - Annual Reports of Publishers Union (in Czech) http://www.uvdt.cz. - Annual Reports of the Council for Radio and Television Broadcasting (in English) <http://www.rrtv.cz/en/>. - Collection of Laws of the Czech Republic (in Czech) <http://www.mvcr.cz>. - Czech Parliament – documents, stenos <http://www.psp.cz/cgi-bin/eng/ >. - Czech Media and Marketing Useful Sources – fekar.cz <http://fekar.webpark.cz/media-en.htm>. - Czech Republic, In: Television Across Europe – regulation, policy and independence. Open Society Institute, Budapest 2005. ISBN: 1-891385-35-6 <http://www.eumap.org>. - Šmíd, Milan: Czech Republic. In: Media Ownership and Its Impact on Media Independence and Pluralism Peace Institute, Institute for Contemporary Social and Political Studies, Ljubljana 2004. ISBN: 961-6455-26-5 <http://www.mirovni-institut.si/media_ownership/czech.htm>. - Kroupa Vladimír, Šmíd Milan: Media System of the Czech Republic. 1. stage of Study on co-regulation measures in the media sector http://ec.europa.eu/avpolicy/docs/library/studies/coregul/interim_app_2.pdf http://www.hans-bredow-institut.de/forschung/recht/co-reg/reports/1/Czech-Republic.pdf. - Šmíd, Milan: Medien in der Tschechischen Republik. In: Internationales Handbuch fuer Rundfunk und Fernsehen 2004/2005. Hans-Bredow Institut, Hamburg. Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft 2004, ISBN 3-8329-0603-7, p. 661-670, ISSN 0946-3348. The Author Milan Šmíd is a lecturer of Journalism and Media History at the School of Social Sciences, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic. correct?