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THECHANGINGFACEOFCZECHMED

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Te Changing Face o Czech MediaPetruka ustrov

I never wanted to become a journalist. Like most other girls, when I was small

I wanted to be a princess or better still a airy and when I learnt to tell the

world o stories and the real world apart, I imagined being an editor, reading and

proo-reading beautiul books and helping them to see the light o day. Just like

my mother did. I never really got to know newspapers until I was an adult. hey

were not around at home or at my grandmothers and all the adults in our amily

read them at work. As or radio, when we were small we used to listen to the

childrens story on Sundays ater lunch (my mother made some adaptations or

radio and naturally she wanted to hear how her work would sound) or to the

book readings on Saturday evenings. I still remember the sound o the gong that

came between each part o Jack Londons Call o the Wild and to this day I think

it might not be a bad idea to visit Alaska.

hat was back in the 1950s and 1960s. hen 1968 came along and journalists

became stars overnight. hey wrote on subjects that, until then, I had only heard

mentioned through careul allusion, such as disputes within the party leadershipand about a new, more liberal, direction espoused by the more progressive

action o the Communists. he media was looded by the recollections o ormer

political prisoners and there was even heretic talk o establishing new political

parties. But even then I hardly read the newspapers I was a student at the

Philosophical Faculty in Prague and debates in the student environment went

much urther than those than in the newspapers and much more inormation

was available by word o mouth.

hen August 21, 1968 came along and overnight Czechoslovakia was occupiedby the ive countries o the Warsaw Pact. he people looded the streets, plastered

them with posters and liers, and the media, especially the radio, stood at the

head o the protests. It only took a week, however, beore the Czechoslovak

Communist leadership and the Soviet leadership signed the Agreement on the

emporary Presence o Soviet Armies on Czechoslovak erritory. he occupation

was deemed brotherly help, although never requested and o the ive armies,

only the Soviet remained. Journalists began to change. My avourite journalists

the most radical ones gradually disappeared rom the pages o newspapers, theradio and television.

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Journalists Lackeys o the Communist RegimeI ended up in prison or two years or subverting the republic. While in detention

during the investigation, I careully studied the party newspaper Rud Prvo romcover to cover. I elt that I was reading about some other country than the one I had

lived in or twenty years, on some completely diferent, unknown continent. Back then

I came to the conclusion that journalists were in act clowns, attending meetings with

party secretaries completely unknown to me, writing whatever they were told. Why

dont the party ocials just write it themselves? I wondered. I concluded that they

simply did not know how to write and that a journalist is someone who, unlike a party

secretary, can string a ew words together to make a sentence and paragraph, but who

needs someone to tell him what to write so that the article makes sense. And I still

think that in the 1970s and 1980s my opinion was not ar rom the truth.

I could only dream o studying again I was expelled rom the aculty in 1970 aer I had

been in prison or more than two months. Te aculty took the politically correct course

o action I was not expelled because I had been charged with subverting the republic by

the State Security Service (StB) but because I had not passed the prescribed exams. Tat was

hardly possible since I was in Ruzyn Prison. Becoming a proessional journalist was out o

the question or me. On the one hand, I had nothing but contempt or the proession, and

on the other I really did not have the slightest chance that someone would employ me in a

newspaper as a released prisoner in Czechoslovakia under normalisation. I was glad that

aer my release, at least the post oce employed me once again or a ew years.

I came into contact with underground publications or the rst time not long aerI had been released rom prison in 1972. My husband at the time worked in a printing

works and in the evenings at home he bound the books o the underground edition Petlice,

consisting o typewritten copies made using carbon paper. Tey were the result o the

resistance o a group o Czech writers who had been blacklisted or their political views,

especially because they had expressed disagreement with the occupation o Czechoslovakia.

Teir existing works had been taken of the shelves and there was not the slightest hope

that they could ocially publish a new book, or any other text or that matter. For them,

the doors o the oces o newspapers and magazines were tightly sealed. Tey decided,however, that they would not allow themselves to be silenced. Tereore, they made twelve

typewritten copies o each book and then personally took them round to their readers

well, the braver ones anyway, since merely having samizdat at home could be a reason or

interrogations by the StB.

SamizdatGradually, samizdat magazines became established, too. I typed them out industriously.

Te samizdat distribution network broadened rapidly and so the rst twelve copieswere oen copied urther beore they even reached their readers. Te number o titles

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was also increasing. Inormation on Charter 77(Inormace o Chart 77) most closelyresembled a newspaper, containing Charter 77 documents and communications o the

Committee or the Deence o the Unjustly Persecuted (Vbor na obranu nespravedlivsthanch VONS), but also brie news items concerning the dissident community andoen a euilleton on the back page. Kritick sbornk (Te Critical Review), reviewingsamizdat and exile literature, was established at the start o the 1980s; Vokno (TeWindow) was a magazine concerned with underground youth culture; and Inormaceo crkvi (Inormation on the Church) was also published (although the subject was notentirely taboo in ocial publications, it was almost impossible to nd out what was

really happening). In reality, there were dozens o samizdat publications with one or

every taste.

However, not even the ood o samizdat magazines changed my view o journalists.

Tese periodicals were not newspapers, aer all their publication was oen much

delayed as using typewriters to make copies was a little slow. Te rst underground

issues oLidov noviny (Peoples Daily) were produced at the end o the 1980s, althougheven that was really a magazine, coming out once a month. Te typewriter was almost

abandoned as a technology or producing Lidov noviny. Although the original articleswere written on typewriters, oen with slightly diferent character types, they were then

scaled-down and pasted together on a page, as in a normal newspaper. Photographs

were then added and the nal product was reproduced using a photocopy machine.

Lidov noviny had a airly large circulation by the end o the 1980s there were quite

large numbers o people brave enough to make a ew elicit copies at work which thenmade their way to new readers. Te magazine Stedn Evropa (Central Europe) wasalso reproduced on a photocopier. I was a member o the editing board and wrote the

original on a typewriter. Samizdat technology was improving several hundred copies

o the thick magazine Revolver Revue, part socio-political, but mostly cultural, wereprinted using a stencil printer. Te Czechoslovak dissident movement also received its

rst computers via secret channels rom the West.

Te era o burgeoning samizdat publications was cut short by the Velvet Revolution

in 1989. From November 20, I worked in the Independent Press Centre whichpublished the dailyInorman bulletin (Inormation Bulletin), that grew in size day byday and sometimes even came out twice in one day. Inorman bulletin combined theeditors o the samizdat publication Revolver Revue and a samizdat political magazinewith the somewhat eccentric name Sportwhere I had also worked (o course it coveredall subjects except or sport). It was the only printed medium providing uncensored

inormation that people could read during the rst days aer the brutal suppression o

the student demonstration on November 17. Te Communist regime was crumbling. At

the end o November 1989, the media changed rom one day to the next. Aer abouttwo weeks, the small Inorman bulletin with its improvised printing presses could

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hardly compete with the major newspapers, radio and television. At the start o 1990,

it became the weeklyRespektand this reputable magazine covering political and socialissues is still in print today.

Afer the Collapse o CommunismAer the all o Communism, literally hundreds o new magazines and newspapers

sprang up. Some had a very short lietime, because their ounders overestimated their

creativity and nances, but some ound enough readers and an editorial board and

management good enough to hold on to a segment o the market. From autumn 1993,

I worked in one such new newspaper and in my opinion its ortunes were to some

extent typical o the lie o the new media. Te original title was Obansk denk(Civic Daily) and it was initially the paper o the Civic Forum (Obansk orum OF),the broad peoples ront movement that had ormed during the rst ew days o the

November revolution as the opposition to the Communist Party and the leadership

o the state at the time. Vclav Havel was at the head o the Civic Forum during the

rst ew weeks, but at the very end o 1989 he was elected Czechoslovak President.

Obansk denk sufered partly as a result o its unclear political position, as, in act, didthe Civic Forum. It was supposed to be an independent paper, though almost all newly

emerging media wore the label independent, but at the same time it was supposed to

support the politics o Civic Forum, making it to some extent a party-political paper.

It should be noted that many diferent political leanings could t under the umbrella

o the Civic Forum at that time its candidates included representatives o the liberalrightwing Civic Democratic Alliance (Obansk demokratick aliance ODA) as wellas the le-wingers who later ormed the Social Democratic Club (Klub socilnchdemokrat). Tis political ambiguity was not a Czechoslovak speciality. Rather, thepeoples ronts that took over power rom the Communists in other countries o the

socialist camp, countries in Eastern and Central Europe that had ended up within the

Soviet sphere o inuence, were similar.

Obansk denk was established in a similar way to many other newspapers

at the time, on the basis o political agreements. In spring 1990, the Civic ForumsCoordination Centre took over the premises and equipment o the dailySvoboda, thenewspaper o the Communist Party Committee or Central Bohemia. Te last issue

oSvoboda was published on April 30 and the rst issue oObansk denk came outon May 2. It was typical o the time that the publishing rights or the daily were not

transerred to the Charter 77 Foundation until May 8, at a time when the paper had

already been on sale or several days. Te daily had an initial print-run o 150,000

issues, but gradually interest declined. In July 1991, the original publisher sold the

paper to the company Caster and in October 1991 it was bought with the publishingrights by the company Cesro.

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esk denk (Te Czech Daily)Jose Kudlek, the owner o Cesro limited liability company, is to some extent a typical

gure o the Czech public scene. Born on August 21, 1951, he was exactly 17 years-old

on the day the occupation o Czechoslovakia began. He did an apprenticeship in

printing and graphics and in 1980 he emigrated rom Czechoslovakia. In 1983, he

ounded a very successul ree advertising magazine called Annonce in the FederalRepublic o Germany, where he took reuge aer emigrating. In 1990, he returned to

Czechoslovakia that was no longer under Communist control and began publishing

Annonce in Czech, with the same level o success. Kudlek also wanted to havepolitical inuence on developments in the Czech Republic and thats why he bought

Obansk denk in October 1991. By then, its print-run was down to 90 000.He renamed the paper esk denk (Czech Daily), dismissed the editor-in-chie,

as well as most o the editorial staf, and began to run the paper as he wished. For

about two years the publisher and the new editorial staf got along ne. Te paper

had rightwing leanings, calling or thorough economic reorms and purging public

lie o Communists, as well as support or the Civic Democratic Party (Obanskdemokratick strana ODS), whose chairman and later President wrote a regularcolumn or the paper, and was severely critical o Vclav Havel or his conciliatory

attitude towards ormer Communists. At the end o 1993, however, the publisher

began to disagree with the policies o ODS headed by Vclav Klaus, who was Prime

Minister o the Czech Government at the time, and decided to change the political

orientation o the paper, no longer supporting Klaus or his party. Te editorial stafdisagreed, however, and the result was an editorial shake-up. Te chie editor and

most o the editorial staf handed in their notice. Jose Kudlek had to start building

the paper again rom scratch.

At this point I joined esk denk. Kudlek and his new editor-in-chie originallyofered me the position o head o oreign afairs, but beore I had made my decision

to leave the monthlyStedn Evropa, the position had already been taken. I ended upjoining the domestic politics section and within a ew weeks I was its head. Looking

back on my work at esk denk, I must say that it was the most liberating time omy lie as a journalist. Te publisher ocused on commentaries, opinion columns

and readers letters, political journalism was somewhat side-lined and so I and my

colleagues had an entirely ree hand. Tere was a lot o ree space in the paper two,

sometimes three, pages a day (depending on the number o adverts). Tereore, besides

original reporting, the political section also published a lot o translations, mainly

rom Anglo-Saxon publications. Mostly we reprinted articles about post-Communist

transormation, but we also tried to print articles covering various problematic issues

afecting post-Communist countries something that did not appear in the Czechpapers very oen.

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esk denk was losing readers, however. Kudlek devoted a signicant part othe paper to promoting the small rightwing party called the Democratic Union

(Demokratick unie) which he also supported nancially using prots rom the saleoAnnonce. Since he had begun publishing it in other post-Communist countries, hecould aford to do so. However, he could not aford to publish a daily that was losing

readers and advertisers and so at the beginning o 1995, esk denk became esktdenk (Czech Weekly) which, somewhat unusually, was published twice a week. Tecontinued loss o interest in the paper is an exemplary case showing the lack o interest

in the Czech Republic or papers that overdo it with propaganda. Many interesting

articles came out in the paper, but articles requiring deeper concentration were not

suciently balanced by pieces that could be read on the tram without too much efort.

A magazine published twice weekly cannot provide readers with a sucient number

o news items, cannot give daily updates concerning sport events and also alls behind

the dailies in terms o providing commentary.

However, in my opinion, most o its original readers were perturbed by the

constant promotion o the Democratic Union, which ailed to reach the 5 percent

threshold in the June 1996 general election and its candidates did not make it into

parliament. Bitterly disappointed, Kudlek stopped publishing esk tdenk thelast issue came out on October 1, 1997. o Kudleks credit, a large number o the

people who today rank among the most important proessional journalists at some

point worked or esk denk or esk tdenk. As a matter o principle, Kudlek did

not employ people that had worked in newspapers under Communism. He claimedthat they had a broken spine and were not up to the job in the new circumstances.

On the other hand, he employed a lot o people with no previous experience o

journalism. Naturally, or many o them it was not the right job but many also became

good journalists.

A Long RoadHowever, even those new to the proession were burdened by certain aspects o the

Communist past. Between 1994 and 1997, ew articles critical o the government werepublished (except or some in the lewing Prvo and some smaller periodicals). Mostjournalists backed economic and social reorms and thus they did not consider it right

to criticise the government o the Civic Democratic Party because they regarded it as

the legitimate driving orce o the reorms. Tereore, they quite deliberately kept quiet

about certain transgressions on the part o ODS politicians in an efort to help the

transormation o Czech society and the nation.

Te road to objective journalism is long and the media cannot change rom one

day to the next, even i those in charge changed their political orientation. Even in theCzech Republic, there are still many media outlets and journalists with leanings to

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one political party or another. Tis is not so much o a problem in the case o political

commentary, where the journalist is expected to give his/her opinion, but it is o more

concern in news reporting where skilul manipulation gives less exposure to a critical

opinion on a avourite gure o the paper. Political manipulation o an analysis

which should provide the reader with an impartial breakdown o a phenomenon or

issue is o grave concern. Not unusually, the impression that such an analysis will give

ie. who it will avour is discussed at a meeting o the editors. Sometimes the editors

o a media outlet, whether printed or electronic, even orce an author to change the

conclusions o a piece. o be air, however, most articles and reports are not afected by

this questionable approach.

Petruka ustrov studied Czech Language and History at the Philosophical Faculty o Charles

University. In December 1969, she was imprisoned or two years or subverting the republic. InDecember 1976 she signed Charter 77; in 1985 she was one o its three spokespersons. From 1979,

she was a member o the Committee or the Deence o the Unjustly Persecuted (Vbor na obranu

nespravedliv sthanch VONS). She worked on various samizdat magazines and, was a member

o the editorial board o Stedn Evropa (Central Europe) magazine. Immediately afer November 17,

1989, she worked in the Independent News Centre (Nezvisl tiskov stedisko) and later in the

weekly Respekt. Between May 1990 and January 1992, she was an advisor to the deputy interior

minister and later deputy interior minister o the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic. Since 1992,

she has been working as a journalist and translator rom English, Russian and Polish.

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