Media in Prague

Written by Dominic Swire
for Expats.cz

Probably the most well known English language newspaper is The Prague Post. This covers news, sports, and features along with various supplements dedicated to education, real estate, health, and travel. The paper can be found at many news stands in the center of town and in most major news agents. It is printed weekly and costs 50 CZK.

There is also a wealth of information available online. If it´s news you´re after, have a look at the Prague Daily Monitor, Fleet Sheet, and The New Presence. The Czech news agency, CTK, also has its own English language pages called Czech Happenings. TOL is another a good resource for news from new Europe and the post-communist world, priding themselves on using local journalists from the region.

If you don´t have time to read, have a look at Radio Prague, the international service of Czech Radio, for excellent coverage of Prague and the Czech Republic. They broadcast in English several times each day and the website has an impressive archive if you need to do some research. They also broadcast in other languages too, including Russian, German and French.

The Czech economy has been doing well recently and this is reflected in the amount of new English language business titles that have sprung up over the last few years. Czech Business Weekly is a good all rounder with a focus on Prague. If you are interested in investing here, perhaps you should track down a couple of copies of CIJ (Construction and Investment Journal) and FNE (Finance New Europe). As the titles suggest, the former covers property and investment, and the latter is concerned with financial news. However, along with the Czech Republic both also cover the whole of new Europe and Russia.

Of course, there are many Czech Radio stations that you can listen to online if you don´t mind the Czech language – or perhaps this can be good listening practice if you´re learning the language. Some of the major stations include the public broadcaster Czech Radio, along with the private stations Frekvence 1, Radio Impuls, and Evropa 2, although there are many more. Your best bet is to search for ‘radio´ on the Expats.cz website and experiment yourself.

Regarding listings of events, cinemas, restaurants and more, our first suggestion is to have a look at Expats.cz. However, there are a number of other publications that carry similar information. The Prague Post always has a pretty comprehensive list of the week´s happenings. Then there are free booklets, such as think again and Provokator, available in cafes and bars popular with expats. The Czechs have their own similar magazines such as Metropolis, Zoom and Houser. Even if you can´t read Czech these can still be useful as the listed events are pretty easy to understand.

Other English language magazines available include Prague Club Magazine, full of pictures covering the social events of the movers and shakers around town, and IWAP’s Bridge Magazine which is aimed at expat women living in the Czech Republic.

The main Czech media consists of the newspapers Mlada Fronta Dnes, (national broadsheet), Lidove Noviny (a former dissident publication), Pravo (Prague-based national daily), and Blesk (Prague-based tabloid).

Regarding television, the Czechs have four terrestrial channels. These are Czech TV (publicly run and operating the mainstream CT1 and more cultural CT2), CT 24 (public news channel), and the commercial channels TV Nova and Prima. Go to www.365dni.sms.cz to see what´s on.

Websites of publications mentioned:

News
Prague Post: www.praguepost.cz
Prague Daily Monitor: www.praguemonitor.com/
Fleet Sheet: www.fleet.cz
The New Presence: www.new-presence.cz
Czech Happenings: www.ceskenoviny.cz/news
TOL: www.tol.cz
CTK: www.ceskenoviny.cz/news/

Radio
Radio Prague: www.radio.cz
Czech Radio: www.rozhlas.cz/
Frekvence 1: www.frekvence1.cz/
Radio Impuls: www.radioimpuls.cz/
Evropa 2: www.evropa2.cz/

Business
Czech Business Weekly: www.cbw.cz
CIJ: cijjournal.com/
FNE: www.financeneweurope.com

Free Magazines
Think Again: www.thinkagain.cz
Provokator: www.provokator.org
Metropolis: www.netpolis.cz/
Zoom: www.mf.cz/scripts/detail.php?id=102109
Houser: www.houser.cz

Special Interest
Prague Club Magazine www.clubmagazine.cz
Bridge Magazine: www.volny.cz/iwap/

Czech newspapers
Mlada Fronta Dnes: idnes.cz/
Lidove Noviny: lidovky.zpravy.cz/
Pravo: pravo.novinky.cz
Blesk: www.blesk.cz

Czech TV
Czech TV: www.ceskatelevize.cz/
CT 24: www.ct24.cz/
TV Nova: www.nova.cz/
Prima: www.iprima.cz/