Czech Republic

Czech court says police must further investigate ultra-right activist's hate speech about Muslims

15.8.2016 17:20 The Regional Court in České Budějovice has returned the case against ultra-right activist Martin Konvička, who is suspected of inciting hatred against the religion of Islam, back to the public prosecutor. The case was initially returned to the prosecutor by the first-instance court there.  full story

Czech Republic: Gambling magnate and media businessman behind "pay-to-play" journalism

15.8.2016 16:35 The current scandal around South Moravian Regional Governor Michal Hašek (Czech Social Democratic Party - ČSSD), who used public money to buy PR articles in a regional newspaper and in the tabloid Parlamentní listy, has given us a peek behind the curtain at how the media group whose motto is "Nobody dictates what we write" actually works. That same group, Our Media, also owns shares in the pro-Russian website Protiproud, which is run by the former spokesperson for former Czech President Klaus, and in the Praha TV station.  full story

videoVIDEO: Romani Gallery Phundaro Vudar - "Oppression-Depression-Passion"

15.8.2016 13:21 Last week, as part of the Prague Pride festival, the ARA ART organization opened its third exhibition at the Gallery Phundaro Vudar. The exhibition features the work of a young gay Romani photographer, Milan Junek, who does art photography of male nudes.
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videoPrague Pride 2016: LGBT community dances through Prague, Roma in the parade too

14.8.2016 14:56 Yesterday afternoon Prague was the setting for the Pride March of lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transsexuals that was the high point of the sixth annual Prague Pride festival of sexual minorities. Organizers estimate this year’s attendance at around 40 000.  full story

Commentary: Merkel, refugees, no to terrorism, Echo24 "mooing", Putin has already won

12.8.2016 17:24 This commentary reflects on selected events from this past week in the media. Commentator František Kostlán gives us his take on the news.  full story

Czech celebrity's music video against Islam earns ridicule, but at what cost?

12.8.2016 8:00 Erik Tabery, Editor-in-Chief of the Czech weekly RESPEKT, has commented on the phenomenon of celebrity Olivie Žižková and her music video against Islam, "Europe, Start Breathing" (Evropo dýchej). "We all love videos of people we can laugh at because they are a unique opportunity to feel better. The singer Olivie Žižková and her song 'Evropo dýchej' offer many reasons to feel better in this regard, but it's not really a laughing matter, for several reasons," Tabery writes for news server Respect.cz after Žižková was interviewed by journalist Daniela Drtinová of the DVTV channel.  full story

Commentary: Czech tabloid misinforms public that Romani children in Varnsdorf "don't go to school"

11.8.2016 18:59 After watching a recently televised interview between the journalist Daniela Drtinová and anthropologist Radka Vepřková about the situation in the Czech town of Varnsdorf, I was curious to see what the tabloid news server Parlamentní listy (PL) was publishing about it - and what I found was no surprise. PL once again has produced its own particular interpretation of what was said, this time cherry-picking from the anthropologist's answers and also directly misquoting her.  full story

Roma at Prague Pride festival say sexual minorities are still taboo in their community

11.8.2016 13:17 Part of the ongoing Prague Pride week traditionally is a segment of the program produced by the Romani association ARA ART. This association has long been involved not just in art with an educational and social scope, but also in specializing on the issue of multiple discrimination and working with the Romani LGBT community.  full story

videoCzech Republic: Muslims attend Catholic mass in Prague, condemn violence

11.8.2016 9:59 Approximately 80 Muslims from abroad and from the Czech Republic assembled in front of the Catholic Church of the Sacred Heart yesterday evening in the Prague neighborhood of Vinohrady in order to protest against the growing incidence of violence in Europe. To great media attention, some of them symbolically attended mass at the church, which was absolutely full.  full story

Czech Labor and Social Affairs Ministry responds to the myths now multiplying about social housing

10.8.2016 17:14 The Czech Labor and Social Affairs Ministry has responded to the distorted information and multiple myths that are currently spreading about the law on social housing. The ministry has published a list of "Eight Delusions" about this law that describes it in detail, including how it will be applied in practice.
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Czech Republic: ARA ART exhibition features art photography of male nudes

10.8.2016 12:32 As part of the Prague Pride week festival celebrating the LGBT community, the ARA ART organization is opening its third exhibition in the series organized by its Gallery Phundaro Vudar. The exhibition features work by a young photographer of Romani origin, Milan Junek, who specializes in art photography including nudes.  full story

Czech Muslims hold public event to condemn terrorism

10.8.2016 10:53 Czech Muslims have decided to make a public, thorough condemnation of the terrorist attacks that have recently shaken Europe and are gathering on Jiřího z Poděbrad Square in Prague today. Their intention is to honor the victims of those attacks and to express their shared concern with other inhabitants of the Czech Republic over the violence in Europe committed by terrorists.  full story

Czech Republic: Amaro Records releases its first two videos by young Romani singers

8.8.2016 17:46 The Brno-based recording studio Amaro Records has been running for three months and has just released its first two video clips. The recordings were made by young Romani singers who got the opportunity to record in exchange for their volunteer work during the construction of the community recording studio.  full story

Commentary: Czech broadcast regulator begins proceedings against TV Prima over report about Klinika social center

8.8.2016 9:40 In addition to its other manipulative reporting about refugees and Romani people, the Prima television channel in the Czech Republic broadcast a manipulative news report this spring about the Klinika Autonomous Social Center in Prague, which provides aid to refugees and the socially vulnerable. The Czech Council for Radio and Television Broadcasting (RRTV) has now issued a press release announcing that it has begun an administrative proceedings with the station over its reportage about Klinika broadcast on 28 May 2016 in its News program.  full story

Czech-language Internet again spreading hoax about "free medicine for Roma"

7.8.2016 13:46 The Czech-language Internet has once again begun spreading a hoax alleging that Romani people get medications or other goods for free in pharmacies. During the month of July, news server hoax.cz reported that this falsehood was one of the 10 most-widespread hoaxes making the rounds in Czech.  full story

Czech NGOs say leading politicians' anti-refugee remarks are dangerous and populist

6.8.2016 19:57 An association of NGOs aiding refugees in the Czech Republic objected yesterday to remarks made by politicians against refugees. The NGOs said the attitudes of rejection expressed by Czech Prime Minister Miloš Zeman, Czech Vice Prime Minister and Finance Minister Andrej Babiš (ANO) and Czech Interior Minister Milan Chovanec (Czech Social Democractic Party) against migration are dangerous and populist.  full story

Czech Republic: More proof that TV Prima manipulated its reporting about Romani people returning post-Brexit

6.8.2016 17:28 The Prima television channel in the Czech Republic is not content just to incite its viewers against refugees, but is also inciting them against Romani people, as news server Romea.cz recently reported. TV Prima reporter Kristýna Vedralová alleged in a recent report that "2 500 Romani problematic families" could soon return to the Czech Republic because Britain has begun to take their welfare benefits away.  full story

Czech Republic: Politician spreads hoax that Roma get washing machines for free

6.8.2016 9:33 Jiří Maria Sieber, who is running for Senate as a candidate for the Řád národa ("Order of the Nation") political movement, has launched a hoax on Czech-language Facebook alleging that Romani residents of Terezín are getting washing machines for free. Allegedly, all they have to do is go to the "welfare office", but they don't even bother to unwrap them, instead taking them straight to the pawn shop - and it doesn't matter to them that they only get one-fifth of the price, because they didn't buy them, the taxpayers allegedly did.  full story

Czech Education Ministry: Just 205 pupils transferring from "practical" to mainstream schools this fall

5.8.2016 19:40 The Czech Education Ministry announced today that, according to estimates provided by the Regional Authorities of the Czech Republic and based on an investigation performed in various schools, roughly 205 pupils are planning to stop attending "practical" primary schools and to start attending mainstream primary schools as a result of inclusion measures that take effect next month. The overall number of children enrolled in the "practical" schools, which are intended for children with "mild mental disability", is around 18 000 for the country as a whole.  full story

Commentary: How to demolish the pig farm at Lety?

5.8.2016 18:48 "Lety is a problem the resolution of which can naturally be postponed indefinitely. It is not known how much it will cost for the clean-up operation - and over the years that amount has loosely ranged from between roughly CZK 70 million (EUR 2.59 million) to a virtual billion crowns (EUR 37 million) - but it is certain that basically it will never be possible to properly 'calculate' it or compare it to anything that might placed on the table as a counter-argument that 'it would be better to spend that on XYZ' ", writes Czech journalist Jindřich Šídlo on news server iHNED.cz in response to remarks by Czech Culture Minister Daniel Herman about resolving the problem of the industrial pig farm on the site of the former concentration camp for Romani people at Lety by Písek.  full story