Within the Czech Republic, it is difficult to distinguish between rural and suburban areas, the most excluded locality in the Czech Republic is considered to be the Sudetenland, the historical territory on the border areas of the Czech Republic. And as visible from the local newspapers database,^[1] local newspapers disappeared from most of these areas. Therefore, the main local information sources in rural and suburban areas and in competition with private local media are municipally owned press or television, which are considered political mouthpieces.^[2] The Czech media system is very centralised, local media are only sporadically found in smaller municipalities than the district. Moreover, all print local media struggle with infrastructural problems, such as problematic distribution^[3] or slow digital transition.^[4]

On the regional level, there are almost no specifically regional media (except the media chain Vltava Labe Media), but there is a more varied media offer in general: from regional versions of national daily newspapers and their online websites; to regional coverage of public service media, television, radio, news agency and private television stations. The areas where journalists live reflects the centralised tendencies of the Czech media: most of the Czech journalists are based in Prague, followed by smaller regional newsrooms of national media in regional towns, and some local journalists in smaller (mostly district) towns. The number of these local journalists is declining, just like the number of local media.^[5] PSM keeps its own regional correspondents and branches, but solely in the regional towns: their reach to the localities is therefore minimal. The PSM networks have been shrinking over time and are mainly insufficient to cover the localities. Czech Radio and the Czech News Agency have no legal obligation to provide local or regional information, although the radio has established branches in regional towns and has regional broadcasting. Czech Television has a legal obligation to provide regional broadcasting, which, in the area of news and current affairs, must “include a balance of contributions from the whole of its territory”.^[6] Thus, public service media contribute to information at the regional level of large regional cities, but only occasionally at the local level.

The map you can find at the following link refers to the coverage of local newspapers in the Czech Republic in 2019. The original data for this visualisation was collected by Lenka Waschková Císařová – Masarykova univerzita – Fakulta sociálních studií (2019). 

^[1] Lokalnik.cz/localmedia.cz

^[2] L. Waschková Císařová, ‘Comparing Czech and Slovak Council Newspapers’ Policy and Regulation Development’, Media and Communication, 2015; Oživení, Mouthpiece, 2015, https://hlasnatrouba.cz.

^[3] L. Waschková Císařová, ‘Backed Into a Corner: Structural Changes That Lead to Local News Deserts’, Media and Communication, 2023.

^[4] L. Waschková Císařová, ‘We Were Innovators, but We Gave up: The Muted Digital Transition of Local Newspapers’, Digital Journalism, 2023.

^[5] L. Waschková Císařová, ‘Backed Into a Corner: Structural Changes That Lead to Local News Deserts’, Media and Communication, 2023; ‘VLM slučuje titulní strany desítek regionálních novin Deník’, MediaGuru, 2023: https://www.mediaguru.cz/clanky/2023/01/vlm-slucuje-titulni-strany-desitek-regionalnich-novin-denik/,

^[6] The Czech Television Act, 1991, https://www.zakonyprolidi.cz/cs/1991-483

The Market and reach indicator was rated as a very high risk, showing the highest score among all five indicators (94%). According to local newspaper publishers, local newspaper revenue has decreased significantly in recent years, especially since the 2008 financial crisis, but also in relation to the recent energy crisis.^[1] Most local media are built on a traditional business model and derive their main income from advertising. Nevertheless, there are no aggregate statistics regarding revenue in the Czech Republic.

Compared to the overall media economy, local newspaper publishers reflect that they are under so-called “sandwich economic pressure”: a regional chain with print and online titles Vltava Labe Media on one side, and on the other, the municipal press, taking potential advertisers and competing with private newspapers at the local level. Local publishers mentioned that after the economic crisis, and also now in the context of the energy crisis, local entrepreneurs, who advertised the most in local media, have often completely stopped spending on advertising, which is the main income of local newspapers.

According to Czech TV research, the Covid-19 pandemic led to a general decrease in the advertising revenue of media houses of up to 40 %.^[2] At the same time, the media industry is the only industry that did not receive any compensation in the time of the pandemic. Another advertising decrease came after the beginning of war in 2022.^[3]

There is a very high-risk level in variable assessing trends regarding closures of local media outlets and a decreasing number of local journalists. The decrease in the number of local newspapers brings a reduction of 50 percent in a decade: in 2009 there were 60 local newspapers; in 2014 there were 45; and in 2019 there were 30. Since 2019, 4 more newspapers have closed. ^[4] Moreover, this trend hasn’t been at all offset by the growth of online local media outlets.^[5]

There is no direct subsidy system for Czech media, just an indirect subsidy through a lower VAT rate for newspapers, which will be increased by 2 % (from 10 % to 12 %) based on the current government decision.^[6] Municipality outlets are paid by local/regional taxes through the local/regional municipalities.

There are no aggregate statistics regarding audiences’ willingness to pay for local news in the Czech Republic. The subscriber´s loyalty was there traditionally for print media. However, now the numbers of subscribers and newspaper sales are declining 10-20 % every year and the trend is even accelerating. Only numbers for bigger dailies operating on a national and regional level are available.^[7]

According to the research of the Association of Online Publishers (2022), more than 91 percent of respondents consider it necessary to have independent regional journalism in the Czech Republic, but two-thirds of them don’t want to pay for news.^[8]

There are no aggregate statistics regarding weekly audience reach for local media outlets in the Czech Republic. According to Reuters Digital News Report 2022,^[9] weekly reach of the regional online news website iDnes.cz is 36 %, Denik.cz 15 %, regional or local newspaper websites 8 %. Offline: regional MFdnes 14 %, regional Denik 9 %, regional or local newspapers 18 %. MFdnes and Denik are the only 2 regional newspapers publishing in all regions. There is no comparable data available on audience reach of regional (local) and national outlets.

^[1] L. Waschková Císařová, ‘We Were Innovators, but We Gave up: The Muted Digital Transition of Local Newspapers’, Digital Journalism, 2023.

^[2] ‘Vydavatelé tisku loni přišli na inzerci kvůli covidu o 2,3 miliardy korun, poklesl rovněž i prodej’, Lidové noviny, 2021, https://www.lidovky.cz/byznys/vydavatele-tisku-loni-prisli-na-inzerci-kvuli-covidu-o-2-3-miliardy-korun-poklesl-rovnez-i-prodej.A210107_150711_ln-media_lihem.

^[3] ‘Inzerenti stahují reklamu kvůli válce, média ale ztrácejí příjmy’, MediaGuru, 2022, https://www.mediaguru.cz/clanky/2022/03/inzerenti-stahuji-reklamu-kvuli-valce-media-ale-ztraceji-prijmy/,

^[4] L. Waschková Císařová, ‘Backed Into a Corner: Structural Changes That Lead to Local News Deserts’, Media and Communication, 2023, Lokalnik.cz/localmedia.cz.

^[5] L. Waschková Císařová, ‘We Were Innovators, but We Gave up: The Muted Digital Transition of Local Newspapers’, Digital Journalism, 2023.

^[6] VAT Law 235/2004 Sb., 2023, https://www.podnikatel.cz/zakony/zakon-c-235-2004-sb-o-dani-z-pridane-hodnoty/f2551483/#aktualni-zneni

^[7] ‘Prodej deníků v pololetí klesal rychleji než v loňském roce’, MediaGuru, 2023, https://www.mediaguru.cz/clanky/2023/08/prodej-deniku-v-pololeti-klesal-rychleji-nez-v-lonskem-roce/,

^[8] Association of Online Publishers, 2022: https://www.asociaceonlinevydavatelu.cz/media/drtiva-vetsina-cechu-stoji-o-nezavislou-zurnalistiku-dve-tretiny-z-nich-ale-za-zpravodajstvi-nechteji-platit.html,

[9] V. Štětka Reuters Digital News Report 2022: Czech Republic, 2022 https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/digital-news-report/2022/czech-republic,

The indicator safety of local journalists received a high-risk score (78%). There is no current data on the working conditions of local journalists. As there is no active professional organisation to map the situation in the media, there are no such reports either. The problem of the absence of a professional organisation for the sector is mentioned in research^[1] from 2007, and there have been no significant changes since then: “Czech journalism is characterised by the absence of a respected professional organisation that would represent an authoritative platform for a significant part of the journalistic community (…) In this respect, Czech journalists as a whole stand well outside the mainstream, especially of Western European journalism. At the regional level, this key professionalisation parameter is even lower than for journalists operating at the national level.”

There is only one traditional professional organisation, Syndikát novinářů (Syndicate of Journalists), which is practically inactive.^[2] A new organisation, the Association of Regional Journalists, was set up in 2021 without resources and therefore its development is very difficult.^[3]

However, it is obvious that more and more journalists, especially at the local level, are forced to work as freelancers with contracts that do not secure them any employment protection and social security benefits. According to research from 2017, up to one fifth of journalists in the Czech Republic work externally, which is a significantly higher share than in Western or Southern European countries.^[4]

This research also shows that 48,1 % of journalists are not satisfied with their remuneration. Those who still have proper employment contracts are subject to general labour law legislation and their contracts usually include regulation on the termination of contractual relationships, including dismissal procedures. The general labour law legislation also secures them unemployment benefit systems and maternity or parental leave. No minimum rates of pay are determined for journalists and workers in private media since there are no unions to represent journalists and attend to their working conditions. The exception applies to media workers in Public Service Media, which have unions and a collective agreement.

According to Mapping Media Freedom, over the last five years (2018-2022), there have been 20 attacks on media and journalists, 13 of them legal.^[5] On the Council of Europe platform there were only 8 incidents recorded.^[6] It is important to notice that the local level is especially underrepresented as local journalists are not organised and usually do not know about the possibilities of reporting threats. However, it is known in the journalism community that online attacks in particular are on the rise.

There is no anti-SLAPP legal framework in place. SLAPP cases have not been monitored, so there is no evidence of them. But along with economic pressures, the fear of legal threats is one of the main reasons (together with economic pressures) that have silenced critical journalism at the local level. Regional and local media are also weak economically and in terms of personnel and they could not afford to face SLAPP cases. There is no organisation in the Czech Republic that would provide assistance to journalists in such a situation. Most of the local journalists also have no information at all about foreign organisations who provide such support.

^[1] J. Volek, Regionální žurnalisté v post-transformační etapě: vybrané socioprofesní charakteristiky, 2007, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/288004635_Regionalni_zurnaliste_v_post-transformacni_etape_vybrane_socioprofesni_charakteristiky,

^[2] P. Vodrážka and D. Píhová, Mezi novináři rostou příkopy. Syndikát dlouhodobě nefunguje a chybí, říká šéfka fondu pro nezávislou žurnalistiku, Deník N, 2022, https://denikn.cz/790822/mezi-novinari-rostou-prikopy-syndikat-dlouhodobe-nefunguje-a-chybi-rika-sefka-fondu-pro-nezavislou-zurnalistiku/,

^[3] J. Jetmar, ‘Regionální novináři zakládají vlastní asociaci’, Mediář, 2021, https://www.mediar.cz/regionalni-novinari-zakladaji-vlastni-asociaci/,

^[4] J. Volek and M. Urbániková, Čeští novináři v komparativní perspektivě: hybridní, virtuální a mizející žurnalisté v post-transformační fázi, 2017, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/320618422_Cesti_novinari_v_komparativni_perspektive_hybridni_virtualni_a_mizejici_zurnaliste_v_post-transformacni_fazi/link/62b5fea9dc817901fc78fc89/download,

^[5] ECPMF, Mapping Media Freedom, 2023, https://www.mappingmediafreedom.org, accessed 10 November 2023.

^[6] CoE, CoE Safety of journalists platform, 2023: https://fom.coe.int/en/pays/detail/11709502, accessed 10 November 2023.

According to an amendment to the Law on Conflict of Interest in force since 2024 public officials including local politicians must not be radio or TV broadcasters owners or publishers of periodicals. However, this does not apply to online media, nor does it apply where the publisher is a political party, political movement or political institute or companies controlled by them, nor to media whose operators are not required to publish an annual financial report.^[1]

Hence, the risk of dependency of editorial/decisional lines on the political activity of owners is high, and this is accompanied by strong evidence. For example, in the region of Pilsen, there is just one private local TV station (ZAK TV), and this is owned directly by a local politician, with a significant part of its income from the town hall, regional council and other public institutions. Similar projects are in several other regions as well, like RTM+, which was in 2023 fined by the regulator for threatening editorial independence.

While it is noted that, outside of 14 regional cities, there still exist some independent print media which stick to professional standards and are not under political influence, these projects are, rather, exceptions^[2] and most of them are seriously struggling financially. Notably, there is a range of projects declaring themselves as media (“junk media”), but in fact those are usually instruments of local political-business groups and should not be called as such.^[3] There is no official evidence of the situation in the local online environment, no overview of the ownership or monitoring of influencing the content by owners.

There are no direct state subsidies for local news media. Some local authorities support online projects misused by politicians and local businessmen through purposeful marketing projects, paying them high amounts of money for different services. There is an indirect subsidy through a lower VAT rate for newspapers[4], which will be increased by 2% (from 10% to 12%) from 2024 based on the current government decision. So, the distribution proves fair and transparent only in one typology (indirect).

Commercial and political influences over editorial content are widespread. Regional media must constantly strive to survive economically and rely heavily on advertisers for that. As the media cannot afford withdrawal by advertisers, they refrain from publishing stories with a negative effect on their market. This ultimately leads to violations of basic journalistic rules. The same applies to politicians from local authorities when it comes to reporting on their positions. In such a context, there are only a few exceptions among local media projects that stick to professional ethics and standards (Ohlasy.info, orlickytydenik.cz), those named in the research of Lenka W. Císařová, and the regional chain Drbna.cz. As already anticipated, the violation of ethical standards happens very often in “junk media”, especially if it’s about advertisements from the municipality or other regional authorities. This also confirmed by the research carried out by NGO Oživení, which observed how “Changes in the media market have led to the disappearance of independent regional newsrooms and the survival of entities that operate in symbiosis with regional or government politicians”.^[5]

All this is backed by the lack of common self-regulatory rules, which would efficiently protect editorial independence from the commercial or political interests of owners. There are codes of ethics even in media houses operating on a regional level (Denik, MFdnes), however often not being enforced or even broken. There is no functional press council for private press and online media, there is no instrument for complaints. The audio-visual regulator for TV and radio (RRTV) does not have local branches, and its activity is deemed as inefficient, in the local sphere.

With regards to PSM, it does not invest much in local newsrooms and the education of local reporters and there is no pressure to deliver any high-quality or even critical content. Therefore, the content is very similar to the content of “so-called media” and regional media, which is totally missing investigations, critical journalism, and audience engagement. While no official evidence / research of that is found, the impression is that regional branches of PSB don’t deliver any critical, in-depth, or analytical journalism on regional/local issues, the content is not of high quality, and actually very similar to the low-quality content of private regional media. Finally, it can be argued that diversity of local media content is severely limited.

^[1] ČTK, ‘Sněmovna schválila zpřísnění zákona o střetu zájmů, tzv. lex Babiš’, 2023, https://www.ceskenoviny.cz/zpravy/snemovna-schvalila-zprisneni-zakona-o-stretu-zajmu-tzv-lex-babis/2378285, accessed 10 November 2023.

^[2] Lokalnik.cz/localmedia.cz

^[3] EFJ and consortium, Fact finding mission to Czech republic, 2019, https://europeanjournalists.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Czech-Republic-fact-finding-mission.pdf,

[4] L. Waschková Císařová and M. Metyková,  Better the devil you don’t know: post-revolutionary journalism and media ownership in the Czech Republic, Medijske studije, 2015.

^[5] Oživení, Regionální média v zemích V4 – divoký západ bez pravidel, 2023, https://www.oziveni.cz/2023/02/regionalni-media-v-zemich-v4/,

Social inclusiveness has high risk score (71%). For the PSM, service to minorities is part of the public service as stipulated by law, however, there is no legal provision as to the extent and form. Czech Television for example provides content in sign language; news in Polish for a Polish minority in Silesia; news for the Ukrainian minority. Czech Radio also has a news and magazine programme for Romani people and several programmes for other minorities. Both Czech TV and Czech radio provide several programmes and documentaries on minorities, however not all minorities are represented regularly in news. Moreover, the representation of minorities in the news coverage is not always correct.^[1] There are several minority media published by minorities themselves. However, most of them do not have daily news, and most of the recognised minorities do not have any news media in their language.^[2]

Only sporadic information is available on whether local media provide sufficient public interest news to meet the critical information needs of the communities they serve. For example, data from one case-study based on focus groups and interviews with local audiences in a specific locality, where local media meet some of the community’s critical information needs.^[3] Based on interviews with local journalists in a specific locality, local journalists do not have a clear idea of their audience and are not in close contact with them.^[4]

The fact-finding mission of EFJ in 2019 reports: “Free independent and impartial private media (on local level) hardly exist as they are more or less instruments for either businessmen and oligarchs for marketing or for politicians running their campaigns. Journalists and editors gave information that regarding political news they are limited in topics they can write and tell about, which is caused especially by rising dependence of media on the money from advertisers. Some local websites are simply reduced to be media for press releases. Advertisers will block stories with a negative effect on their market and so will politicians from local authorities when it comes to their positions. Furthermore, the lack of real independent media will lock journalists to stay at such ‘marketing media’ as they won’t have any other choice. It was significant that local journalists were afraid to meet the mission as they believed that the owners could consider such a meeting as disloyalty to an extent that it could lead to dismissals.”^[5]

^[1] Media Tenor, Analýza zpravodajství českých televizí a ČRo (rok 2022), 2022,  https://img.ceskatelevize.cz/boss/document/1996.pdf?v=1; Český rozhlas, Pro národnostní menšiny, 2023, https://temata.rozhlas.cz/mensiny; Česká televize, Společenské menšiny, 2023, https://www.ceskatelevize.cz/ivysilani/kategorie/4093-spolecnost/4105-mensiny/; Sedláková, ‘Media construction of deviance – othering of Roma in television news discourse’, Social Pathology and Prevention, 2021, https://spp.slu.cz/artkey/spp-202102-0001_media-construction-of-deviance-8211-othering-of-roma-minority-in-television-news-discourse.php.

^[2] Multikulturní centrum Praha, Menšinová média (a menšiny v médiích) v ČR, 2006, https://migraceonline.cz/cz/e-knihovna/mensinova-media-a-mensiny-v-mediich-v-cr,

^[3] L. Waschková Císařová, ‘”I see myself as Batman: I’m doing it in the name of the local community.” Addressing the complexity of the relationship between the local, the local audience and local journalists’, Local Journalism. Critical Perspective, 2023.

^[4] Ibid, 2023.

^[5] EFJ and consorcium. Fact finding mission to Czech republic, 2019, https://europeanjournalists.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Czech-Republic-fact-finding-mission.pdf,

At the local level, there are only very few local media organisations innovating.^[1] There are exceptions, which try to actively find new technology development and audience engagement.^[2] At regional level the chain Drbna.cz is open to innovations. Last year the media house completed a project mentored by the Financial Times focused on innovations. Drbna.cz has its own application, which allows to turn off advertising, or contains a function “Drbni to” – the reader can send current events from the city or can write a whole article.

In 2021 a group of local journalists founded the Association of Regional Journalists, which is willing to share the knowledge with other initiatives.^[3] But the organisation is struggling financially as there are no grant opportunities for capacity building.

Citizen journalism practically does not exist. If such initiatives appear they are not sustainable and usually exist only when there is a big local case and again disappear when the problem is over regardless of whether it was solved in favour of citizens or not. Such initiatives usually appear on social media, typically Facebook.   

However, there is a dangerous phenomenon on social networks at the local level. Facebook groups declaring themselves as community info-sharing groups are sometimes managed by anonymous admins and discussions are moderated in a very biased way. Critical voices are deleted, some profiles expressing unwanted opinions are blocked. In addition, some Facebook pages or groups are directly administered in favour of specific political-business groups and mislead the audience by providing biased and strictly selected information, which is not always obvious to the audience. Unfortunately, this phenomenon is not yet documented or officially described.

^[1] L. Waschková Císařová, ‘We Were Innovators, but We Gave up: The Muted Digital Transition of Local Newspapers’, Digital Journalism, 2023.

^[2] E.g., online local outlet Ohlasy dění na Boskovicku, https://ohlasy.info, or a start-up Apel-plzen.cz.

^[3]J. Jetmar, ‘Regionální novináři zakládají vlastní asociaci’, Mediář, 2021, https://www.mediar.cz/regionalni-novinari-zakladaji-vlastni-asociaci/.