Jan Čulík, the editor of the Czech daily Britské listy, writes for CER on Czech media, culture and politics.
Volume 3
4 June 2001
Testing the Limits of Free Speech
A well-known Czech journalist must defend himself against serious accusations of slander.
12 February 2001
Counting Czechs
Will the data collected in the recent census fall into the wrong hands?
5 February 2001
Mythmaking and Czech Politics
It's not what you do; it's the way that you spin it.
22 January 2001
"Investigative Success"
Jana Bobošíková, the director of Czech TV news, had a spy in her camp.
15 January 2001
The Death of Public TV
The striking Czech TV journalists have won their battle... but it is a Pyrrhic victory.
8 January 2001
My Despair: How I Brought 100,000 People out on the Streets
The editor of Britské listy explains how, to his pride and shame, his online publication may have helped to precipitate the current crisis.
8 January 2001
Dead Air
TV journalists have manipulated public discontent to gain political support.
Volume 2
20 November 2000
Anti-Communism and Emotional Substitutes
The sources of political legitimacy in the Czech Republic in the 1990s.
13 November 2000
Meter Maid Commandos
The municipality of Prague has created a riot squad out of common traffic wardens.
6 November 2000
A Long Wake
The aftermath of the anti-IMF demonstrations continues to be felt in Prague. It's a slow sobering-up process.
9 October 2000
Hard Cell Techniques
As Czechs go into denial over the inhuman brutality of their policing methods, the evidence is mounting.
25 September 2000
Global Front, Local Depression
Czechs are unhappy about the new economic order, but the reasons are mostly local, not global.
18 September 2000
Notes from the Underground
Why are inspectors on the Prague metro so aggressive?
4 September 2000
Privitisation or Theft?
Ten years on, the privatisation of the Czech Republic's most popular newspaper still provokes controversy.
3 July 2000
Mafioso Capitalism
More on the failure of Czech bank IPB and its links to TV Nova.
26 June 2000
Dodgy Bankers
The recent sale of the Czech bank IPB has raised serious questions about its financial propriety.
19 June 2000
More Mayhem
In the ongoing soap opera that is Czech television, Roman Prorok takes centre stage.
5 June 2000
A Deep Trauma
The present frictions in Czech-Roma relations have complex and deep-seated causes.
29 May 2000
Foreigners Go Home!
Following the lead of her West European neighbours, the Czech Republic is taking a hostile attitude toward both refugees and students from non-Western countries.
22 May 2000
The Politics of Smear
By embracing smear tactics, maybe the Czech Republic has entered the mainstream of Western democratic politics.
15 May 2000
Communist Regression
State-sponsored propoganda appears to be alive and well on Czech Public Service Television.
9 May 2000
Anarchist Field Day
Prague's anarchist demonstration - in the media and in reality.
2 May 2000
Something Positive?
Do the recent changes at Czech TV News mean that badly needed reforms are finally about to get underway?
25 April 2000
The Profits of Privatisation
Privatisation bribes paid to the Czech Civic Democrats have returned to haunt the Party.
17 April 2000
Media Melee
Seven of the nine members of the new Council for Czech Television are straight-forward political appointees.
3 April 2000
The Final Assault
In the continuing saga over Czech public service broadcasting, it now looks likely that Czech politicians will pack any future regulatory body with their own political appointees.
27 March 2000
Hitler's Mein Kampf in Czech: Books are still being banned in Europe
Controversy surrounds the recent publication of a Czech language version of Hitler's Mein Kampf, and moves are afoot to have it banned.
20 March 2000
Who's Robbing Who?
Vladimír Železný is maintaining his attempt to control the new TV Nova in the face of a mounting counter-attack by its former American owners.
13 March 2000
President Albright?
Once again, there is Western media speculation that US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright may make a bid for the Czech presidency, and once again, we see how little the Western media understand what is going on in the post-Communist countries.
28 February 2000
Under the Influence
Is the Czech media irrevocably falling under the influence of vested interests and PR agencies?
21 February 2000
Roma: The debate continues
The discussion of Roma in the Internet daily Britské listy has now attracted the attention of Czech police. There is also an alternative view of events from journalist František Roček.
14 February 2000
Media Manipulation
Czech Television has come under concerted attack from political and business critics this week as both its regulatory bodies and underpinning legislation were scrutinised with hostile intent.
7 February 2000
"We are not racists, but we don't like Gypsies"
In response to last week's review of British television's Channel 4 documentary on the plight of the Roma, letters have poured in offering the other side of the story.
31 January 2000
A new Chief Executive of Czech Television: The same changes, but softly, softly!!
Is Dušan Chmelíček the right man to modernise its fossilised power structures and introduce essential reforms?
31 January 2000
If you prick us, do we not bleed?
Channel Four's documentray about Czech attitudes toward the Roma is reviewed by Jan Čulík.
24 January 2000
An Absolute End to Independent Czech Television Journalism?
Czech Television's dubious search for a new Chief Executive.
17 January 2000
Who's Afraid of Rational Thought?
If you want to understand the Czech Republic, study Marxism.
10 January 2000
Fiasco at Czech Public Service Television
Chief Executive of Czech TV, Jakub Puchalský, has resigned suddenly.
Volume 1
13 December 1999
Czech Republic: Rising Discontent
With the economy bordering on crisis and politicians incapable of fixing the country's problems, the Czech public became increasingly discontent throughout 1999.
6 December 1999
A Repeat of November 1989?
Czech Protest: The problem is that the current student protest is quite vague.
29 November 1999
A Fistful of Impressions
Insights from talking to readers.
22 November 1999
Evaluating a Decade
While the majority of Hungarians and Poles are generally pleased with their post-Communist lot, Czechs are divided equally on the issue of transition. Some are now blaming the West for this.
15 November 1999
TV Nova, the Health Secretary and Other Problems
An analysis of some major programmes broadcast on Czech radio and television over the past few weeks clearly shows the principles by which the Czech media operate.
8 November 1999
Profound Disillusionment
A recent survey has shown that Czechs are deeply disillusioned with
their politicians and their political parties.
1 November 1999
Completing the Circle?
Communists take the lead in the opinion polls a mere ten years after
the fall of Communism.
25 October 1999
Race Relations
Rather than indulging in hypocritical posturing, we should simply admit that Czech-Romani relations suffer from serious and complex problems, and these should be tackled from both sides.
18 October 1999
Reminiscing Revolutionaries
Last week's historians' conference in Prague dedicated to the tenth
anniversary of the Velvet Revolution seems to have been little more than a
celebratory feast run by victors.
11 October 1999
A Meek Protest
The recent Czech doctors strike was very mild, so much so that most patients hardly noticed.
11 October 1999
The Educated Poor
The decline in the living standards of university educated people in the Czech Republic has been sharp in the 1990s.
4 October 1999
Pricking Havel's Bottom
Interview with John Keane, author of an unauthorised biography of Vaclav
Havel.
27 September 1999
More Moribund Manouevering
Yet another chapter in the convoluted history of TV Nova.
20 September 1999
Mixed Czech Nuts
After the news from the Czech Republic over the past few weeks, it
seems hardly surprising that an increasing number of people are turning off
their televisions, hiding their money in mattresses and voting for the
Communists.
13 September 1999
The Czech Republic 1992 to
1999: From unintentional political birth to prolonged political
crisis
This is an extensive account of the first years of the young Czech
Republic.
13 September 1999
Nova TV: The saga continues
The latest sad chapter in the unfolding story of Nova.
23 August 1999
Czech Public TV: The
yellow-bellies
In this second article in this series on Czech media and civil society, we
see how politics and cowardice triumphed over journalistic standards at the
nation's public television station last year.
16 August 1999
Czech Media and Civil Society: A
survey
The instruments of speech for the nation have been paralysed, and there
is no systematic public debate about the most important issues of public
interest.
16 August 1999
Zelezny Pulls the Plug on Nova
TV
The conflict between Vladimir Zelezny, the licence holder of Central
nd Eastern Europe's most successful commercial TV station, Nova, and the
station's American service providers came to a head.
9 August 1999
No Pulse 99
Impuls 99 aims to save Czech society but does little more than fulfil
the need of some Czech intellectuals to pompously pontificate in public.
2 August 1999
Princess Diana, Al Fayed, the CIA and a
Czech Spook
Is the former Czech master spy, Karl F Koecher, connected with the
grand conspiracy surrounding Princess Diana's death?
2 August 1999
Nova TV: Commercial success or
embarrassing failure?
Recent months have revealed the most dramatic and most comic chapter in
the post-Communist history of Czech TV broadcasting
19 July 1999
A Concrete Example of Muddy Thinking in the
Czech Press
No wonder Czechs do not know what is going on around them in the world.
12 July 1999
Press Freedom under Threat
A controversial draft press law before the Czech Parliament.
5 July 1999
So, You Want to Study Law in Prague?
The long-rumoured corruption at
the Law School has been exposed.
28 June 1999
Ten Years after Communism: The great Czech
malaise
The Czech Republic is politically rudderless.
Volume 0
9 November 1998
A Testimony of Failure
A book by a former deputy minister speaks volumes not only about Czech politics but also about today's Czech culture and society.
Moving on:
