Česká televize

Czech Television broadcasts documentary films for International Romani Day, producer reveals his Romani roots

8.4.2017 9:17 On the occasion of this year's celebration of International Romani Day, public broadcaster Czech Television has been showing several documentary films mapping contemporary Czech-Romani relations as well as Romani history. The programming is being broadcast by the channels ČT2 and ČT art.  full story

Czech broadcast authority says public television's news reporting on the US election broke the law

16.1.2017 8:35 Public broadcaster Czech Television broke the law in its November 2016 news broadcasts about election night in the United States of America, according to the Council on Radio and Television broadcasting (RRTV). Its broadcasting was imbalanced in favor of candidate Hillary Clinton and at the expense of Donald Trump, the RRTV announced in a press release on 12 January.  full story

videoCzech documentary shows illegal Nazi salute being given at concert by xenophobic Ortel band

5.12.2016 8:36 Last night as part of its "168 Hours" program, Czech Television broadcast footage from a concert by the Ortel band in the Czech town of Frýdek-Místek during which some fans give the Nazi salute and shout the Nazi greeting "Sieg heil". The footage was captured by documentary filmmaker Vít Klusák.  full story

Czech actor Roman Zach supports Romani celebrity's stance against neo-Nazi band on live tv broadcast

5.12.2016 6:29 More performers in the Czech Republic have been publicly expressing their support for the Romani singer Radek Banga. During the popular music competition "Český slavík" (Czech Nightingale), Banga took a stand against the xenophobic band Ortel when it won second place for a second year in a row.  full story

Czech Television considers ending controversial "debate" program

24.2.2016 18:07 The "You Have the Floor" ("Máte slovo") program, in comparison to Czech Television's other current events programs, is the very worst in terms of quality. Czech daily Lidové noviny's online edition, Lidovky.cz, reports that is the conclusion of a rapid analysis requested by a new member of the public broadcaster's board, Zdeněk Šarapatka, who is a big critic of the program moderated by Michaela Jílková.  full story

Czech Republic: Romani preschool teacher knows change is possible

28.10.2015 8:34 Božena Horváthová teaches Romani preschoolers on Cejl Street in Brno, the Czech Republic's second-largest city. In a reportage broadcast by Czech Television last month, she described her greatest dream as follows: "You know what I envision? For us to not be 'sidelined', for us to be involved in society. For our children to study and have beautiful professions. I have managed this with my own children and I know it can be done. I know this can be changed."
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Czech Council on Radio and TV rejects critique of public broadcaster's reality show about Romani schoolchildren

22.8.2015 23:30 Nonprofit organizations in the Czech Republic have received an answer from the Council on Radio and Television Broadcasting (RRTV) to the open letter in which they criticized the television series "Class 8A" (Třída 8.A.). The nonprofits believe the series has not fulfilled its intended aim of pointing out the problem of segregation of Romani pupils in the Czech schools.  full story

Czech Television humiliates Romani people on their International Day

8.4.2015 22:30 Czech Television's programming on 7 April ahead of International Romani Day featured somewhat embarrassing dramaturgy and a documentary film promoting antigypsyist stereotypes and clichés. The public broadcaster had announced last week that a program of many documentary and feature-length films would be shown in honor of 8 April.  full story

Czech TV defends serial's depiction of Roma

Prague, 25.2.2014 19:46, (ROMEA) News server Lidovky.cz reports that Czech Television and its inspection board have closed their discussion of the depiction of minorities in the serial "Ambulance 2" (Sanitka 2). Czech TV claims that all of the situations filmed for the serial are in order because they are based on the actual experiences of ambulance workers and contemporary reality.  full story

Commentary: Some Romani activists are spreading anti-Romani sentiment

Prague, 14.1.2014 23:40, (ROMEA) Most of the readers of Romea.cz have probably watched the most recent episode of the Czech Television discussion program "Máte slovo“ ("You Have the Floor"), which is presented by Michaela Jílková. I have to admit that during that broadcast I found myself wondering whether I was really watching a Czech Television program at all.  full story

Commentary: Romani guests on Czech TV show aren't helping their image

Prague, 14.1.2014 22:21, (ROMEA) Michaela Jílková, a Czech Television "moderator", has once again succeeded in pulling off a tour de force. On her tabloid talk show "Máte slovo" ("You Have the Floor"), through which guests sometimes spread their racist and xenophobic attitudes, she has once again incited the "decent" and the "inadaptables" (her words) against one another.  full story

Czech Police arrest hooligan for assaulting two Romani bus passengers

Prague, 10.12.2013 18:24, (ROMEA) The Czech Television program "Na stopě" ("On the Trail") has reported on a classic case of hate violence that took place just before 3 AM on 2 November on night bus number 511 in Prague. Two aggressive assailants attacked two Romani passengers whom eyewitnesses said were obviously physically weaker than them.  full story

Join the open letter to the Board of Czech Television on the depiction of Romani people

Prague, 9.11.2013 19:07, (ROMEA) Documentary filmmaker Lukáš Senft, who has previously written an open letter to the creators of the "Sanitka 2" television serial, has decided to contact the Board of Czech Television about his concerns. "I would like to know: Will Czech Television soon be taking a clear, decisive step toward more fair and socially sensitive productions that will present the complexity of our world through the language of images in a way that does not simplify or trivialize it, but that reveals contexts, carefully making and analyzing important connections?" Senft writes in his open letter.  full story

Commentary: Romani actors play only primitive criminals in Czech tv serial

Prague, 8.11.2013 20:31, (ROMEA) A few days ago, Lukáš Senft, a documentary filmmaker and student at the Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, published an open letter to screenwriter Ivan Hubač and director Filip Renč, the creators of the tv serial "Sanitka 2", which is known to everyone from the time of the previous regime. In his letter, the author criticizes primarily the eighth episode of this serial and its depiction of the Romani minority as a dangerous, foreign, and incomprehensible group.  full story

Czech tabloid seizes on critique of tv show view of Roma to stir up trouble

Prague, 6.11.2013 21:51, (ROMEA) Director Filip Renč has allegedly begun responding with vulgar abuse to the rising criticism of his depictions of Romani people in the television serial "Sanitka 2" as completely racist and unrealistic. Attorney Klára Samková referred to Renč as an "idiot" in a post to her Facebook profile discussing the serial, and according to the editor of a Czech tabloid, Renč then called Samková a "gypsy cow".  full story

Czech director defends his depiction of Romani people in tv serial

Prague, 6.11.2013 0:17, (ROMEA) Lukáš Senft, a documentary filmmaker and student at the Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague has written an open letter to the creators of the television serial "Sanitka 2", screenwriter Ivan Hubač and director Filip Renč. In his letter, which was also published by news server Romea.cz, Senft takes the serial's creators to task for lying about Romani people and depicting them as a bloodthirsty, dangerous, foreign and incomprehensible minority.  full story

Czech Republic: UIA conference supports Roma in Ostrava

Prague, 30.10.2013 0:55, (ROMEA) United for Intercultural Action (UIA) is a European network against fascism, nationalism and racism that supports migrants and refugees and brings together more than 560 organizations in 46 European countries. The organization is currently holding its international conference in the Czech Republic, which is scheduled to end on 30 October.  full story

Open letter to Czech Television: Talk show features anti-Roma bias, racist untruths

Prague, 4.10.2013 22:17, (ROMEA) A complaint has been sent to the board of Czech Television about Michaela Jílková, the moderator of its talk show program "Máte slovo" ("You Have the Floor"), specifically concerning a recent episode on the topic of Romani people and ultra-right extremism. The open letter points to her lack of professionalism, her inability to become better acquainted with the topics her program covers, and the biased shift against Romani people that she caused in a recent discussion through her inability to perform her role as moderator without sensationalizing the topic at hand.  full story

Czech Republic: Ultra-right extremists now candidates for the "Heads Up!" bloc

Prague, 21.9.2013 18:34, (ROMEA) The "Heads Up!" (Hlava vzhůru!) bloc is running in the Czech Republic's early elections with the slogan "We fight for you!", but a more apt slogan for the group might be "We pick fights with you". Two right-wing extremists are among its candidates, as is a politician infamous for her previous racist remarks.  full story

Commentary: Experts and extremists at Czech Television

Prague, 1.9.2013 22:21, (ROMEA) At public broadcaster Czech Television (ČT), anyone can be a sociologist. All it takes is to blame everything on the "inadaptables."  full story