Czech Radio Presented More Top-Class Journalists within Its Project PRESSpektivy – the Future of Journalism
Czech Radio brought more top-class foreign journalists to the Czech Republic. The invitation to its fourth annual international project called PRESSpektivy – the Future of Journalism was accepted by James Hardy, Head of Communications for BBC News Group, and Mike Mullane, Managing Editor of the European Broadcasting Union’s MEDIA Strategy department. The project took place on April 9 and 10 in Prague.
Both guests also appeared at a seminar on “The Present and Future of Public Service”, which was co-organized by Czech Radio and took place under the auspices of the Electoral Committee of the Czech Parliament’s Chamber of Deputies.
The ambition of PRESSpektivy – the Future of Journalism is to drive discussion about topics connected with the present and future of both professional and amateur journalism. Its target is to raise the professional level of Czech Radio’s journalists and to become involved in educating future journalists, which is one of the tasks of public media.
“Public broadcasting is very important, especially because it enables the broadcasters to express themselves without any political or commercial pressure. It doesn’t rely on advertising and in its situation it doesn’t have to follow a political line or support the opinions of powerful owners. Public broadcasting has a unique position so as to produce independent programmes – and especially journalism. It enables the broadcasters to develop a unique relationship with their audiences that is based on trust. Trust is essential for public broadcasting. If we undermine such trust, we destroy our reputation and thus make it difficult for ourselves to maintain public support,“ points out James Hardy, Head of Communications for BBC News Group. The BBC is a media corporation which applies high professional standards and puts great emphasis on verifying information and on viewers’ trust.
The PRESSpektivy Creative Workshop was intended for university students, who could try to create a radio programme under the tutelage of experienced reporters. The instructors at this Creative Workshop were Veronika Ruppert, a Radio Wave presenter and reporter, and Ľubomír Smatana, a domestic news reporter of the News Service Centre and Czech Radio’s former reporter in Slovakia. The workshop was attended by eight selected university students. The trainees’ task was to come up with a new broadcast section or programme for a particular Czech Radio station.
Successful students developed their ideas at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, April 9, 2014 during the PRESSpektivy Evening in Kavárna Muzeum. Each participant of the Creative Workshop was given two minutes to present their broadcast section or programme to the guests in the form of a “mash-up”. The jury, consisting of James Hardy, Veronika Ruppert, and Ľubomír Smatana, chose the best presentation. The event was opened by the Director of the News Service Centre, Tomáš Pancíř.
The PRESSpektivy Evening is intended not only for media experts and students, but also for the public, who can discuss topics they are interested in with Czech Radio’s employees. Czech Radio is open to discussions about the future of journalism and this meeting is one of the ways to support such a dialogue. New trends, which our professionals are now getting to know as well, are presented to university students. Moreover, the international project PRESSpektivy – the Future of Journalism provides a unique opportunity to meet top class international and domestic journalists personally in Prague.
The Creative Workshop took place on Thursday, April 10, 2014. The students tried their hand at the job of a Czech Radio journalist. The programme they created in a group was then broadcast by Radiožurnál and Radio Wave.
Brief profiles of James Hardy and Mike Mullane can be found at www.presspektivy.cz in the Topics and Guests section.
Mgr. Tereza M. Krásenská
Spokesperson of Czech Radio
Phone: +420 221 551 221
E-mail: tereza.krasenska@rozhlas.cz