S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 8 Media Influence Matrix: Czech Republic Funding Journalism Author: Marius Dragomir Published by CEU Center for Media, Data and Society (CMDS), Budapest, 2018 About CMDS About the Author The Center for Media, Data and Marius Dragomir is the Director of Society (CMDS) is a research center the Center for Media, Data and for the study of media, Society. He previously worked for the communication, and information Open Society Foundations (OSF) for policy and its impact on society and over a decade. Since 2007, he has practice. Founded in 2004 as the managed the research and policy Center for Media and Communication portfolio of the Program on Studies, CMDS is part of CEU’s School Independent Journalism (PIJ), of Public Policy and serves as a focal formerly the Network Media Program point for an international network of (NMP), in London. He has also been acclaimed scholars, research one of the main editors for PIJ's institutions and activists. flagship research and advocacy project, Mapping Digital Media, which covered 56 countries worldwide, and he was the main writer and editor of CMDS ADVISORY BOARD OSF’s Television Across Europe, a comparative study of broadcast Clara-Luz Alvarez policies in 20 European countries. Floriana Fossato Ellen Hume Monroe Price Anya Schiffrin Stefaan G. Verhulst Hungary, 1051 Budapest, Oktober 6 str. number 7, Room 210 Tel: +36 1 327 3000 / 2609 Fax: +36 1 235 6168 E-mail: [email protected] ABOUT THE MEDIA INFLUENCE MATRIX The Media Influence Matrix Project is run collaboratively by the Media & Power Research Consortium, which consists of local as well as regional and international organizations. The consortium members are academic institutions (universities and research centers), NGOs, journalism networks and private foundations. ADVISORY BOARD • Special Advisor: Dean Starkman • Media Management and Economics: Philip M. Napoli • Research and methodology: Amy Brouillette • Research and advocacy: Susan Abbott, Minna Aslama • Civil Society & Technology: Kate Coyer • Policy: Francesca Fanucci • Data: Attila Batorfy, Jessie Labov CMDS TEAM • Marius Dragomir, director • Editorial consultant: Tom Popper • Research: Eva Bognar, Dumitrita Holdis • Design and outreach: Anna Orosz • Coordinator: Mihaela Groza M E D I A I N F L U E N C E M A T R I X : C Z E C H R E P U B L I C F U N D I N G J O U R N A L I S M S FUNDING JOURNALISM T Sources of Funding 4 N Shifts in Journalism Funding 4 6 E Popular News Media Consumption Trends 7 T Key players 9 Funding Trends 19 N Influential News Media 29 Key Funders 32 O Non-governmental Funders 32 State Funding 35 C F O E L B A T 4 SOURCES OF FUNDING Shifts in Journalism Funding During the past decade, the Czech media The same year, another powerful financial market has undergone major shifts that group, Penta Investments of Slovakia, took have radically changed the country’s over Vltava-Labe-Press, a media house journalism. Much of that was caused by owned by another German publisher, technology. But changes in the country’s Verlagsgruppe Passau. media ownership played an equally big role. Add to the mix Jaromir Soukup (a pugilist- turned-journalist who has built a media It all started in 2008 with Zdenek Bakala, a house comprising TV Barrandov and several coal magnate, who acquired the publishing print media), and GES group controlled by house Economia from its German the investor Ivan Zach (which runs Prima publisher, the Verlagsgruppe Handelsblatt TV and a commercial radio operator), both group. No more acquisitions were made active supporters of the President Milos for the next several years as the economic Zeman and his political coterie, and you crisis wreaked havoc on the country’s have a picture of a highly concentrated, advertising and media industry. But to politicized and instrumentalized media some of the country’s mighty financiers market where independent journalism is and oligarchs, the crisis, in fact, brought hardly surviving. about opportunities. Hobbled by the economic downturn, many media Except for TV Nova (which several oligarchs companies suddenly became an easy prey are planning to buy from the American for financially powerful oligarchs. By owned group CME), a few smaller print taking over nearly all major media titles and radio stations, and the public businesses during the past five years, they broadcaster (whose situation can change sounded the death knell for foreign anytime depending on how political winds ownership in the Czech media. blow), there is not much left outside the oligarchs’ sphere of influence. First, in 2013, Andrej Babis, owner of the Agrofert manufacturing colossus, bought And things do not improve. With Babis Mafra, publisher of the dailies Metro, appointed prime minister in 2017 and Mlada fronta Dnes and Lidove noviny, oligarchs further expanding their media three of the country’s most coveted daily houses, independent journalists have a newspapers. That marked the exit from tough row to hoe. the Czech market of the German owned media group Rheinisch-Bergische Verlagsgesellschaft (RBVG). A year later, Daniel Kretinsky bought one of the most profitable publishing businesses in the country, the Swiss-German owned Ringier Axel Springer Media, which runs the tabloid Blesk (the best-selling daily in the country), and a shoal of magazines. Kretinsky worked as a lawyer for the financial group J&T. 5 SOURCES OF FUNDING However, some stand pat. An increasing number of journalists, mostly those who started their careers in the 1990s, have been leaving their jobs in droves to launch their own news businesses. At least seven such new initiatives are still alive and kicking. Some boast large audiences (Echo24.cz), others pioneer innovative advertising models (Reporter). But most of them are still struggling to turn a profit. In particular, those relying on grants are the most vulnerable. Fighting against the large media houses will be an uphill battle if some bigger players or investors do not step in. Seznam.cz, the biggest Czech technology company, made the first move. It has been constantly stepping up its investment in the news media. It bought a stake in Pravo, the sole daily outside the oligarchs’ control, and launched in early 2018 its own television channel. But much more is needed to beat the financial and political power of oligarchs. Some journalists put their hopes in Czech TV, the country’s public broadcaster whose news output is generally praised for its objectivity. The station has built a good reputation as one of the few public broadcasters in eastern Europe succeeding in staving off political pressures. However, as much of the decision power about the station’s finances and management rests with Parliament, its independence is always in harm’s way. SOURCES OF FUNDING 6 SHIFTS IN JOURNALISM FUNDING Who’s who in Czech media The key influencers in the largest media in the Czech Republic Direct & Prominent news media assets Annual indirect Operator income 2016 influence TV Radio Print Online (CZK m) CT (6 CRo (23 Government Czech TV & iRozhlas.cz 9,114 channels) channels) ct24.ceskatelevize.cz Czech Radio tn.cz CME TV Nova TV Nova (7 4,654 channels) Seznam.cz, Helifreak Seznam.cz Seznam TV 3,703 Pravo Novinky.cz, Super.cz GES Denemo Prima TV (6 Radio United 3,076 Media channels) Broadcasting (6 radios) Metro, Mlada iDnes.cz, fronta Dnes, Andrej Babis Mafra Lidovky.cz, 2,631 Radio Impuls Lidove noviny, Expres.cz Tema Penta Vltava Labe Denik Denik.cz 1,847 Investments Media Daniel Czech Media Evropa 2, Blesk, Aha!, Blesk.cz,Zive.cz, Frekvence 1, Reflex.cz, 1,102 Kretinsky Invest E15, Reflex Zet E15.cz Hospodarske Aktualne.cz, Zdenek Centrum.cz, Economia noviny, Respekt, Penize.cz, 811 Bakala Ekonom iHned.cz Jaromir Empresa TV Sedmicka, Soukup Tyden.cz 363 Media Barrandov Tyden, Instinkt Source: CMDS, 2018 SOURCES OF FUNDING 7 SHIFTS IN JOURNALISM FUNDING POPULAR NEWS MEDIA Consumption Trends Czechs are ravenous news consumers. More than three quarters of people read news online, according to data from Eurostat. In 2017, some 77% of Czechs read news, a spectacular jump of 10 p.p. compared to the year before. The year 2017 also marked a high record of news consumption among regular internet users: some 91% of the regular Czech internet users read news on the internet or in a newspaper or magazine. All individuals the news 63 % 69 % 70 % 67 % 77 % reading 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 habit Share of individuals (%) reading 85 % 86 % 86 % 82 % 91 % online news sites, newspapers or news magazines in the Czech Republic, 2013-2017 Czechs who used the internet in the past three months Source: Eurostat, 2018 Television dominates the news market in the Czech Republic. Some 95% of all households in the country own a television set, according to data gathered by Nielsen Admosphere for the Association of Television Organisations (ATO), a local industry association. Howbeit, Czechs spend a lower amount of time in front of TV screens than many of their European peers. In 2016, they spent three hours and 28 minutes on average watching television, which was more or less the same as in the year before, according to Eurodata TV Worldwide.(1) That is less time than in large television consumption nations such as Romania or Bosnia & Herzegovina, and even than in average TV-consuming markets like Slovakia where people watch TV for nearly four hours a day. Internet television is even less appealing to Czechs. In 2017, only 7% of Czechs watched television online every day or almost every day, which was more or less the same as in 2016, according to data from the European Commission.