Topic Archive Society
Jindřich Šídlo – one of the country’s most prominent political journalists
Jindřich Šídlo has been working as a journalist for two decades. It is
safe to say that he has experienced most of the scandals, upheavals and
milestones in recent Czech history. After a nine-year stint at the weekly
Respekt, where he says he learned his craft, he worked for a variety of
dailies as well as the public broadcaster Czech TV. Currently, Šídlo a
political analyst at the daily Hospodářské noviny. In this two-part
interview, we talk to him about what it is like to cover Czech politics for
such a long time, if he ever gets tired of it, and what first spurred his
interest in becoming a journalist. More
Magazine
In Magazine this month: a drunk driver caught by police puts his dog in the
driver’s seat. The famous Paris wax museum Musée Grevin is to open to
the public in Prague and a Czech engineering and development company
promises to unveil an electric powered flying bike in the autumn. More
Adapting old skills to new media
The Czech media landscape is changing beyond recognition, as anyone who
used to listen to Radio Prague on shortwave knows only too well. So how is
the Czech Republic keeping pace with the digital revolution? And what are
the new dangers that go with the social media, citizen journalism and all
the other innovations that are transforming the work of the traditional
journalist? For the last three months David Vaughan has been teaching
broadcasting history to students at Prague’s Anglo-American University.
As part of the course he asked his students to map some of the latest
shifts in the Czech digital media landscape. The following programme is the
result of their investigation. More
Billboard vandal temporarily released from prison
A former public transport worker – found guilty of defacing public
property – was released from prison on Thursday, 67 days short of his
100-day sentence. The justice minister had filed a complaint in the man’s
favour in the hope that the court would determine once and for all whether
defacing a campaign poster constitutes a crime or just a misdemeanour. His
release may only be temporary, pending the decision. More
Prague Food Festival to inspire Czechs to think global, eat local
On Friday, the magnificent Prague Castle gardens will open to host the
annual Prague Food Festival – a three-day celebration of fine dining and
healthy eating. Foodies from Prague and elsewhere will converge at the
venue to sample the delicacies prepared by three dozen classy restaurants
and enjoy the festival’s varied accompanying programme. More
Roma attack on teen, which brought thousands into the streets, never happened
Police in the South Moravian town of Břeclav have called off an
investigation into three Roma who allegedly beat up a 15-year-old boy, in
an incident that raised racial tensions around the country. The boy has
confessed that the attack never took place, he injured himself in a fall,
and the mass demonstrations that followed now look like just another sign
of widespread prejudice against the Roma minority. More
Love Across Cultures: Relationships between Czechs and Foreigners
In the past 20 years, Prague has attracted a number of foreign
professionals, and many of them settle here permanently. With the Czech
capital growing more international, relationships between locals and
foreigners have also become more common. In this edition of Czech Life, we
speak to some of those intercultural couples about their experiences and
their everyday relationship life. More
Brno centre for childcare launches “rent-a-granny” scheme
This month saw the launching of a new EU-funded child-care project aimed at
helping families with young children juggle work and family. In view of the
lack of day nurseries and kindergartens around the country the Brno Centre
for Family Planning and Child Care has launched a “rent-a-granny”
scheme along the lines of the Oma Dienst project successfully implemented
in neighbouring Austria. More
Health insurer counting its losses as government moves to scrap costly and inefficient electronic health records project
The Czech government has announced its decision to dump a costly electronic
health records project launched ten years ago. The project which was to
facilitate communication between doctors regarding treatment of individual
patients failed to get off the ground properly and was frequently
criticized for lack of transparency. More
Woman gets life sentence for murder of her four children
A 37-year-old Czech woman has been sentenced to life in prison for
murdering her four children. The Regional Court in Hradec Králové, in
eastern Bohemia, on Friday rejected the woman’s claim she suffered from
memory loss, and convicted her of the murders. She became the fourth woman
to receive a life sentence since the fall of communism in the country. But
the woman collapsed during the reading of the verdict and the court will
now decide whether the defendant will be brought to court again. More
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