Respekt

Not to be confused with Regina Spektor.
For other uses, see Respect (disambiguation).
Respekt
27 February 2017 issue of Respekt
EditorErik Tabery
CategoriesInvestigative journalism, politics, economy, science, culture
FrequencyWeekly
PublisherRespekt Media
First issue18 November 1989; 35 years ago (1989-11-18)
CountryCzech Republic
Based inPrague
LanguageCzech
Websiterespekt.cz
ISSN0862-6545

Respekt is a Czech weekly news magazine published in Prague, the Czech Republic, reporting on domestic and foreign political and economic issues, as well as on science and culture.

History and profile

Respekt's first cover (14 March 1990)

Respekt was founded soon after the fall of Communist party from power in 1989 by a group of samizdat journalists as one of the first independent magazines. It is the successor of Informační servis (lit. 'Information service'), an opposition samizdat paper. Respekt is published weekly and has its headquarters in Prague. The New York Times describes Respekt as "influential".

In 2005, Respekt published details about business connection between Prime Minister Stanislav Gross' wife and a brothel owner, starting a scandal leading to downfall of Gross several months later; in 2008 it published an article alleging that Milan Kundera, when a student, denounced to the police a Czech spy for the West.

The circulation of the weekly magazine peaked at over 100,000 copies in the middle of the 1990s. At this time, the (loss generating) weekly was bought by Karel Schwarzenberg's R-Presse. The circulation has been dropping steady over the time causing Respekt's losses to increase to 7 million Czk in 2003. In 2006, Zdeněk Bakala obtained majority in Respekt and planned to eliminate the loss by making the journal more mainstream. The proposed changes led to fear among both readers and the editors that the unique flavour of the weekly will be destroyed. Later that September, all editors threatened to leave.

Since Respekt regularly reports on its investigations into bribery scandals, criminal activity or government mishandling, legal action have been periodically taken against it – often by top level politicians. Most of these cases that have gone to court have been won by the magazine.[citation needed] The most visible case was the Czech government's 2001 attempt to sue Respekt for libel. Miloš Zeman, the instigator of the case, saw it as a way to end the journal. The case fizzled away only embarrassing the government.

Editors in chief

Charter 77 signatory and the first editor of Respekt, Jan Ruml
Erik Tabery was appointed editor-in-chief in 2009

Visual style

In September 2007, the colored print format was replaced the black-white photos as the advertisement section was expanded.

References

  1. ^ a b Smid, Milan. "Czech Republic" (PDF). Mirovni Institut. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 August 2016. Retrieved 28 October 2014.
  2. ^ Nečas, Vlastimil (Fall 2009). "Constitutional debate in the Czech Republic" (PDF). Central European Journal of Communication. 2 (2). Archived from the original (PDF) on 31 December 2014. Retrieved 31 December 2014.
  3. ^ "The press in the Czech Republic". BBC News. BBC. 29 April 2004. Retrieved 17 February 2015.
  4. ^ Bilefsky, Dan (2 August 2016). "Czech Man Is Charged With Attempted Terrorism". The New York Times. Retrieved 3 August 2016.
  5. ^ Třešňák, Petr; Hradilek, Adam. "Udání Milana Kundery". Respekt (in Czech). Archived from the original on 19 February 2009.
  6. ^ "Milan Kundera demands apology from Respekt for defaming him". České Noviny. Archived from the original on 6 June 2011. Retrieved 10 January 2009.
  7. ^ "The press in the Czech Republic". BBC News (in Czech). 10 December 2005. Retrieved 13 December 2008.
  8. ^ "Redaktoři Respektu dali výpověď kvůli novým šéfům". Mladá fronta Dnes (in Czech). Mafra. 22 September 2006. Retrieved 7 September 2007.
  9. ^ Szantová, Olga (23 October 2001). "Cabinet filing charges against 'Respekt' weekly". Czech Radio. Archived from the original on 8 October 2008. Retrieved 7 September 2007.
  10. ^ "Časopis Respekt bude barevný a dražší". Týden (in Czech). Empresa Media. 30 August 2007. Retrieved 7 September 2007.
  11. ^ "Respekt se mana!". Týden. Empresa Media. Archived from the original on 4 May 2007. Retrieved 7 September 2007. Švehla describes the changes and explains that the loss making journal needs to implement them. Quality of articles won't be compromised, says.