Are Czechs well served by their media?
Today - 15 years after the Velvet Revolution - there are literally dozens of different media publications on sale at newsstands throughout the country. There certainly doesn't seem to be any shortage of magazines and newspapers for Czechs to choose from. It's a far cry from the sort of tightly controlled press that prevailed under communism just 15 years ago. There are some, however, who maintain that the Czech media is not fulfilling its crucial democratic role in fostering political debate and social analysis as well as it should.
"The media that we have today is better and more educated. But if you look for a comparison with developed democratic countries you get an entirely different picture, which is quite unsatisfactory. The principal reason for this is the fact that after the abrupt change of regime and the collapse of communism, we had an equally abrupt generational change. And so if you have a journalist or media manager whose only quality is their age and the fact that they are not compromised by the previous regime because they were too young, you have to go through some kind of transition period where you have to make mistakes. And that's exactly the path we have taken."
Irena Rysankova, a parliamentary reporter agrees that the relative youthfulness of people working in the Czech media is far from ideal:
"I think journalists in the Czech Republic are too young. I am always very sorry when I see the BBC or hear Austrian radio, and they have people who are about forty or fifty years of age and they are really excellent journalists. I think that young people often write [their stories] very quickly. They are very young and impulsive. I think it's a question of time though; the situation is not so tragic. In ten years, it will be OK."
Jan Urban is not so sure, however. He believes that inexperience on the part of journalists may have contributed to the emergence of an unhealthy situation insofar as the media's coverage of Czech political life is concerned:
"These newcomers to the media were not experienced enough in journalistic ethics and the need for them to keep their distance from politicians and legislators. The relationship between politicians and media people in the Czech Republic is far too close."
Irena Rysankova doesn't agree. She maintains that the familiarity that exists between politicians and journalists is bound to happen in a country the size of the Czech Republic.
However, Martin Jan Stransky, a journalist and independent magazine publisher disagrees. He feels that debate and discussion between the media and the political elite, which is considered to be such a vital cog in the workings of any properly functioning democracy, is distinctly lacking here:
"Politicians in the Czech Republic - even though they do represent Czechs - are probably the most unhealthy of Czechs because they completely abuse their democratic potential and their positions in the huge majority of cases. They view the media as nothing more than something that is there to serve them. There are many politicians who openly refuse to talk to the media whenever it suits them or who will tell the media whatever it is that they want to tell them. And the media in turn, because of its passivity and the passivity of the entire Czech nation when it comes to fighting for democratic rights, sort of just lets things be in this regard. So there's a very unhealthy dynamic between the politicians and the media in the sense that there is no dynamic."
Irena Rysankova feels that such concerns are exaggerated:
"We are a normal country with a normal media. I think the media are free and are very democratic. Of course there are some problems with press and media monopolies. But [otherwise] I think the situation is normal."
The press monopolies Ms Rysankova mentions pertain to the fact that the distribution of print media in the Czech Republic is controlled by a very small number of companies. As a small independent magazine publisher, this is a situation Martin Jan Stransky is all too familiar with:
"Right now there are two main distributors who have split the market between themselves and for small and medium sized publications there's virtually no chance of getting good distribution - if any - through these distributors because first of all they are cost prohibitive and frightfully expensive. Secondly if they do distribute [your publication], you end up 'under the counter' so to speak rather than on top of it, so it's a very lop-sided scenario."
It has been argued that the size of the Czech market means that there is no room for more distributors, as the country is just too small for this to be profitable. Jan Urban, however, thinks that such reasoning is flawed.
"There is a widespread belief that the ten-million strong language market is too small [for the situation to be otherwise]. But then you look at Belgium and the Netherlands and many other smaller European countries who can deal in financial terms with a much stronger and more diversified market organisation."
Martin Jan Stransky agrees. He is hopeful that a combination of market forces and legislation will eventually rectify the current situation.
"It's a matter of free markets and economics. Sooner or later, if the public wants to get its hands on magazines at the newsstands, one has to hope that they are going to take that extra step and do so. At the same time one has to examine the existing distribution situation and see whether or not there isn't a regional monopoly being created and to make sure that this doesn't conflict with existing anti-monopoly and anti-trust laws."
Like the development of the printed press, the evolution of Czech broadcast media is also a controversial topic. Although TV Nova, the country's first commercial television station, is hugely successful in terms of viewing figures, many like Martin Jan Stransky feel it has had a detrimental effect on the quality of Czech broadcasting:
"Yeah, it's particularly miserable in TV, especially TV Nova, which is a direct arm of the political establishment, where not only the format of debate programmes is usually sub-par, but that the programmes themselves are strictly censored in terms of who they allow in and the types of questions that they ask and so on. Unfortunately this happens to be the most watched TV station. That having been said, television in and of itself is clearly the most embattled medium as far as quality is concerned. Relatively speaking, I think the print media remains much more diverse and vibrant."
Jan Urban also thinks the success of stations like TV Nova is having a debilitating impact on Czech society.
"I think the worst situation can be found in television, especially commercial television. This has become a sphere of absolute political lobbying and manipulation. The upshot of this is that today we have a nearly absolute monopoly in electronic media as well as in the advertising market. And this is definitely not healthy."
Despite the criticism, the Czech media has admittedly made some huge strides forward in the last fifteen years and it could be argued that its current troubles are simply teething problems that can be resolved over time. Jan Urban is not so sure, and feels that Czechs will have to be vigilant to ensure that their media maintains the standards one would expect in a democratic country.
"Have we crossed some accursed line where the media and the politicians are too close too each other, which has done some irreparable damage to our political and societal system? I don't know. This needs to be tested. So we need to wait and we need to fight and then we shall see..."
Martin Jan Stransky agrees. He doesn't see any quick fixes for the media's problems and thinks that any improvement will happen slowly as the country's democracy continues to develop:
"A good media is synonymous with a developing democratic foundation. I don't see any specific area where journalists or media people are going to wake up tomorrow and say 'Hey, we have to change that!' They are not well organised among themselves. I would like to see a well-organised media and journalism union here, particularly in regard to legal journalistic affairs. But I think that the European Union and entry to the EU and increased contact within that community is going to serve the country very well as far as the media is concerned here."
