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Visit Christopher’s blog! An expat in Brno!

Vera Caslavska “La Novia de México” seen by an USAmerican expat

Very useful post to know general facts about this extraordinary sport woman, one of the best gymnasts born in Czech Republic.

JINDŘICH FRANTIŠEK BOBLIG DE EDELSTADT: Breves consideraciones sobre un inquisidor imperial

La extensión máxima de la persecución de las brujas (una verdadera masacre contra la población civil) se alcanza después de la Guerra de los Treinta Años en los siglos XVI y XVII, y afectó principalmente a los estados que actualmente abarcan los territorios de Alemania, Escocia y Francia. En principio, los países checos se libraron de esta caza. Pero en la segunda mitad del siglo XVII la ola de persecuciones golpeó fuerte en algunas ciudades de Silesia y en el principado de Nis, que pertenecían a los obispos de Wroclaw.

Vychází kniha o českém interiérovém designu

(Published a book about Czech interior design)

Brief dictionary for finding a sense:

nakladatelství: publisher

umění: Art

spolupráci: collaboration

Cílem knihy: the goal of the book

neprávem: unjustly

zapomenuté: forgotten

Opening credits for the film “The Witches’ Hunt” (1969)

Film director: Otakar Vávra
Music: Jiří Srnka
Lyrics: Ester Krumbachová
Interpreters: Vladimír Šmeral, Elo Romančík, Soňa Valentová, Josef Kemr a Václav Lohniský

CONSECUENCIAS DE LA GUERRA DE LOS TREINTA AÑOS: JUICIOS INQUISITORIALES EN JESENICE

Los juicios por brujería de la ciudad checa de Jesenice y conocidos también como “los juicios por brujería de Boblig”, quien fuera el principal instigador de esta persecución en la zona de Bohemia entre 1678 y 1696, fueron de los más extensos y mejor conocidos juicios por brujería, como se relata magistralmente en el filme “Kladivo na carodejnice” (1969, Checoslovaquia).

THE NEW CZECH OWNERS (and 3)

Again in 2013 Daniel Kretínský, owner among other things of Sparta, and Patrik Tkác, number one of the J & T Group accomplished another big operation buying Ringier Axel Springer CZ, the Czech of the Swiss-German editorial group. So they secured the ownership of newspaper “Blesk” (tabloid the most widely read) and the weekly “Reflex”.

The investor Daniel Kretínský (CD Sparta, tabloid Blesk, weekly Reflex…) in a image of 2014

© http://montyrich.cz/

It seems clear enough that the focus is now centred on private and commercial television with TV Nova and Prima, on first place. Together, the two broadcasting stations control 90% of TV advertising market. Nova ins owner by American Time Warner and Prima is fifty fifty shared by Swedish Mgt and Czech company Ges.

At the end, the list of suitors who wish to acquire the most popular private TV is very long and it is a perfect example of how Czech media is a market that worth billions despite the present crisis because of its generated under estimation Kc60bn a year.

The new owners, whose is aim is improving their influential power that media provide, are increasingly such a kind of takeovers not specialists in publishing. Ignoring the fact of a growing local oligarchy, the very questioned Reporters Without Borders placed the country in 16^th position out of the 179 countries in the list freedom of the press, ranking published in 2013.

See also for more info about Reporters Without Borders:

http://en.rsf.org/press-freedom-index-2013,1054.html

(Adapted from a report of the magazine RC Repubblica Ceca, July – August 2014)

THE NEW CZECH MEDIA OWNERS (and 2)

Later still in 2013 billionaire Andrej Babis (Czech Finance Minister and ANO movement head), who is President of the agricultural, food and chemical Agrofert group, bought the company Mafra editing daily “Mladá Fronta Dnes” and “Lidové Noviny” with site iDnes.cz. The entire stake was sold to him by the German company Rheinisch-Bergische Verlagsgesellschaft. Impuls Radio the most popular radio in the country got the same destiny soon later.

Actually Babis remained the most influential person in Czech Republic in 2014 also according to the ranking elaborated by Forbes. According to the first estimates, Mafra raised operating profit EBITDA on the year to Kc270m last year. Together with Babis’s other media, Radio Impuls and Slovak publisher Ecopress, Mafra generated sales of Kc3,4bn in 2014.

The fact is that by chance (or not) Babis the Slovakian-born tycoon was an outsider to politics around twelve months ago.

(Adapted from a report of the magazine RC Repubblica Ceca, July – August 2014)

THE NEW CZECH MEDIA OWNERS

A quite significant change of trend after a long, flat period in the Czech media panorama is emerging. And of course the process is far from being over. Foreign companies are leaving room for new local owners.

“Andrej Babiš 2014” by David Sedlecký – Own work.

A first example: back to 2008, the billionaire Zdenek Bakala bought the publishing house Economia (German company Handelsblatt) editing “Hospodárské Respekt” daily newspaper and the weekly “Respekt” and “Ekonom” and also the informative website Ihned.cz. In 2013 acquired Centrum Holdings (Aktualne.cz) from the American fund Warburg Pincus.

Babis in the front page of the weekly magazine “Respekt” n. 49/2011. Owner Zdenek Bakala.

(Adapted from a report of the magazine RC Repubblica Ceca, July – August 2014)

LA SEGUNDA PATRIA DE UNA GIMNASTA COMPROMETIDA: De cómo Vera Čáslavská unió la Primavera de Praga con los estudiantes de la Plaza de las Tres Culturas. México, 1968

¿Cuándo antes en la Historia del deporte moderno se había producido semejante conjunción entre una deportista y su país de adopción…? Es más, ¿cuántas estrellas del deporte, al mismo que fueron excepcionales en sus respectivas disciplinas, se comprometieron con alguna causa social y de forma pública? La lista sería harto breve y en ella habría que colocar a Vera Čáslavská como una mujer excepcional para su época. Es en este post donde quiero reflejar los pasajes de su carrera profesional y