Jakub Patočka, editor-in-chief of left-wing news website Deník Referendum

Jakub Patočka is the editor-in-chief of an online magazine called Deník Referendum, and a leading Czech left-leaning journalist. He made national headlines at the end of last year when his website ran what it said was the Czech president’s New Year’s address; however, it turned out to be a hoax, made up of the president’s favourite phrases. So was it a marketing trick with a message?

Jakub Patočka, photo: CTK

“Well, it was interpreted in this way but it was not by any means the original intention. We just wanted to make a New Year’s Eve joke for our readers, and we could not possibly foresee that other media would take it for real, would not understand and would not even call us to find out whether it was real or just a joke, and run it as a real story.”

For a decade, you were the editor-in-chief of a respected weekly, Literární noviny, which you left in 2009. Why did you leave and what do you think of the weekly now?

“During my time at Literární noviny, it was never possible to publish the weekly without substantial donations. These were partly covered by the state but it was under increasing, politically motivated attacks because Literární noviny was a left-leaning newspaper, and it was quite unpopular in certain circles – the governing circles.

“Then later, in the last decade, it was almost impossible to go on because the run on all of our sponsors to shut down the donations was so intense, and it made things really hard for them and for us. So it was not possible to continue publishing a printed weekly.

“We therefore took the only option we had left at that moment, and we sold it to a group of investors close to the Social Democrat party. They originally promised the old editorial team that they would continue, and they made it quite clear that they just wanted the people to carry on with their work, but it did not happen in the end, and I think it’s quite a disappointment, and I also think that the present state of Literární noviny is quite pitiful.”

You have repeatedly criticized Czech media for their right-wing inclinations and attitudes. What’s the state of the left-wing media scene?

“The state of left-leaning Czech media is quite easy to describe because virtually there are none. We in Deník Referendum are not mainstream yet; we hope to become recognized as one of the mainstream media in the Czech Republic. Not through writing but rather through gaining readers’ support and a substantial number of readers so that other media would have to recognize us as one of them. On one hand, we want to become one of them but on the other, we want to be solid alternative.

“There is one major daily that is often considered left-leaning; that’s the daily Právo. But in opinion, they are too conservative on too many issues, and they especially are very hesitant to cross the interests of their potential advertisers. They are also very conservative on the new left political issues, such as Green issues, human rights issues and so on. On these they very often take a conservative stance so there is basically a big space for us to fill.”

But why has not that space been filled yet? You said that Literární noviny could not exists without donations. Why aren’t Czechs interested in reading left-wing opinions?

“I wouldn’t say they are not interested. I also think it’s important to read not only editorials but to have the whole structure of the media and the way it carries news. Saying left-leaning, it’s like it would not be independent in the concept in covering the news, which is not true. It’s just the focus on the news you choose to cover.

“In the right-wing, or basically all mainstream, media in the Czech Republic, things are not described in the way they have impact on the lower two-thirds of the society. The media are incredibly biased; they see things from the perspective of people in Prague with high living standards; but people in the country can barely learn the mainstream media about what’s going on in the country from.”

You also said that the new government presented a threat to the reputation of democracy. Do you really see that as clear cut as this?

“Yes, I would say so. The essential thing is that people don’t distinguish very much between economic policies and the political system. So when they see the spectacular failure that’s going to be induced on them in the next four years, they will not say, ‘this is a failure of extremist neo-liberal, pro-market policies but a failure of democracy as such. And I think this danger was already obvious during the last election when we saw for the first time such huge numbers of voters supporting entirely new parties that only had one advantage over the old ones – the voters didn’t know them. I think that is pretty scary.”

Isn’t this a big opportunity for the Social Democrats. They in fact lost the elections due to various reason, but don’t they a great opportunity now to reform and offer an alternative?

“They do, they do. But what we have seen throughout the years is that if the Social Democrats are very good at anything, it’s squandering opportunities. So I really have high hopes for the Social Democrats that they reform and become a modern, leftist democratic party that will be able to address the substantial issues, to communicate with the civil society, to understand the cultural importance of the civil society, to support all the Green, social and cultural issues. But when I see the real state of the party, I somehow cannot make myself believe this is realistic.

Jakub Patočka

You have yourself been involved in politics – you headed the Green Party ballot in a European Parliament election, you were an advisor to former Social Democrat PM Vladimír Špidla. Would you consider going back to politics?

“I would consider that but for the time being, I’m really completely focused on the media and I have no other plans than to try and make Deník Referendum, as I said, an alternative to the Czech mainstream and at the same time, a part of it.”