Two cheers for Czech television, one for Slovak...
The 2008 follow-up reports on television in Slovakia and the Czech Republic were launched on 12 February and 13 February 2009 in Bratislava and Prague, respectively.
Bratislava, 12 February / Prague, 13 February 2009
Ivan Godársky, who co-authored the Slovak report, presented its findings. The most important events in the media in recent years were the government's dramatic hostility towards the media, the steady decline of the reputation of Slovak public service television (STV), and the transition to digital broadcasting.
Mr Godársky stressed that STV's ratings and reputation fell sharply after general director Richard Rybníček's departure in 2006. The station, which had been financially stabilised by Mr Rybníček, was plunged back into financial uncertainty. Now it is in the red again, reduced to begging for money from the state. Mr Godársky criticised the lack of a managerial concept at STV. These shortcomings drove viewers to prefer the commercial outlets. "Even though we are 20 years after the Velvet Revolution, the process of stabilising the media is still not completed," Mr Godársky said.
Eva Rybková, author of the Czech report, said that digital switchover was the most important media event over the past two years. Decision-makers have finally conceded that analogue broadcasting cannot go on forever. Ms Rybková showed how the legislation on digital broadcasting introduces a very relaxed licensing procedure whereby any applicant with enough money gets a licence. Even though the first digital TV stations have been licensed, the Czech broadcasting industry still lacks healthy competition.
- Prague Žižkov TV Tower. Photo: Fred Gosselin, used under CC license.
Ms Rybková said that the Czech public service broadcaster, Česká televize, has enjoyed financial stability for several years. One reason for this was the station's campaign to collect the licence fee more efficiently. Czech TV is still politically influenced, while the involvement of civil society is minimal, Ms Rybková added. However, political interference has been less blatant than in Slovakia.
The Czech and Slovak authors also presented the results of a monitoring project that they carried out in two phases, the first in 2007 and the second late in 2008. The monitoring focused on news content on the main TV stations.
Rastislav Kužel, the other co-author of the Slovak report and a member of the monitoring team, said that the government received the largest coverage in the total news programming of all the Slovak stations. More than 44 per cent of news items were devoted to the government, while only some 7 per cent covered the opposition. However, more than 75 per cent of all news coverage was neutral. STV dedicated 46 per cent to government coverage, recording the highest levels of neutral and positive tones in items about the government. Over 85 per cent of STV's news on the government had a neutral or positive tone.
On the largest commercial TV station, TV Markíza, the government was the focus of more than 45 per cent of the news coverage. However, Markíza was much more critical towards the government, with some 30 per cent of its news having a marked negative bias, Mr Kužel said.
In the Czech Republic, the public service broadcaster increasingly imitates commercial TV Nova in producing snappier, shorter news items, Ms Rybková said. However, Czech TV has managed to introduce innovative news formats through its all-news channel ČT24, while the trend on TV Nova was to cut news production. TV Nova has excelled, on the other hand, in airing sensationalist, crime-oriented news items. The station, however, has also increasingly produced quality investigative reports. But international news has seen a steep decline on TV Nova, which aired almost no foreign news over the monitoring period. By contrast, Czech TV's foreign news coverage is substantial. "Czech TV's primetime newscast devotes generous time to major international events," Ms Rybková said. Czech TV, although it strives to be objective and neutral in its news coverage, sometimes lacks diversity in the opinions presented.
The monitoring in Slovakia found similar differences in the kind of topics presented. STV covers extensively political topics and foreign news (a combined 46 per cent), Mr Kužel said. Private stations carry more gory news and crime stories, while health and education-related stories are shown only on STV, which however - like its Czech counterpart - lacks diversity of opinions in its news stories.
