Reflex (magazine)
Encyclopedia
Reflex is a Czech
weekly magazine focusing on political, social and cultural topics. It was founded in 1990 and is currently owned by the Swiss
media corporation Ringier
. It is one of the Czech Republic's most controversial and widely read social-political magazines; its print circulation of 60,000 copies (as of January, 2010) reaches approximately 270,000 readers. Polls conducted by the Czech Publishers Association (Unie vydavatelů) in 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008 placed Reflex first in its category.
in Czechoslovakia
. Its first editor-in-chief, Petr Hájek and a group of promising, like-minded Czech journalists established its combination of political news journal and life style magazine. The result was an original and distinctively Czech approach to current affairs. Hájek's ideas and format were vindicated as Reflex gradually created its own niche within an expanding and increasingly competitive market for Czech periodicals. In 1993 Hájek won the disapproval of some of his colleagues when he sold Reflex to the Swiss corporation Ringier without prior consultation: Josef Klíma, a co-founder of Reflex and a prominent Czech investigative journalist, remembers Hájek as "the greatest disappointment in my life" Hájek left to work as a media consultant in marketing and advertising. From 2003 - 2008 he was campaigner and spokesman for his long-standing political ally, Czech President Václav Klaus
.
In 1995, Ringier appointed Petr Bílek as Reflex' editor-in-chief. During Bilek's 13 year tenure the magazine's style and orientation shifted profoundly. According to him, Reflex's position in the early 90's was "idyllic, due to non-existent competition". Its early editions ran to around 200,000 copies; Reflex and a single significant competitor, Respekt
, dominated the free media market. According to Bílek, early Reflex journalism was founded on a "very uncompromising", critical approach to Czechoslovakia's communist past and the surviving remnants of communist attitudes and institutions. As Czech society changed, Reflex kept pace under Bilek, whose editorial policy shifted focus away from the past towards contemporary political events and social changes but its earlier "idyllic" position was eroded by an increasingly competitive, diversified market. Part of its earlier readership was apparently lost to a revamped and modernised Respekt
but it retained a substantial share of the market and remains popular with readers and advertisers: independent estimates found a likely target readership of approximately 270,000 for its January 2010 print circulation of 60,000 copies, making it the most successful advertising vehicle of 2010 among Czech political-social magazines. In 2008, Bílek stepped down. He was replaced by Pavel Šafr, former editor-in-chief of the newspapers Mladá fronta DNES
and Lidové noviny
: from 2010, Bílek served Reflex as an external editor. In 2010, the NY Times described Reflex as one of the leading weekly periodicals in the Czech Republic.
politics. On the website Britské listy
, Czech media expert Jan Čulík
positions it between tabloid commercialism and quality journalism. Jiří Pehe describes it as popular but untrustworthy, a right-leaning and rather pro-Civic Democratic Party forum.
, and organised an annual contest through the magazine. A Reflex Cannabis Cup was awarded for the best reader's photos of home grown cannabis. In 2010, the Czech legislature adopted more tolerant cannabis laws; Doležal announced the end of the contest: "...in future, the contest should be organized by the cannabis business, not by a social magazine". Some of Reflex's covers have made controversial suggestions about prominent figures in Czech public life and politics.
In 2001, Zelený Raoul
a Reflex satirical comic strip illustrated by Štěpán Mareš showed the former Social-democratic minister Karel Březina in a naked sexual embrace with his wife, the writer Bára Nesvadbová
. Březina sued, and won damages and a public apology.
, Blesk
, and Mladá fronta DNES
) that the company's management had tried to buy the entire print run to avoid public exposure. Anthony James Denny, general manager of the company, denied all the allegations. Reflex reprinted the original report in its next issue.
, former Czech Prime Minister and current Chairman of the Czech Social Democratic Party
(ČSSD), was involved in a lawsuit against Reflex. In 2009, the magazine published a report describing Paroubek's election campaign as an attempt to employ his private life as a part of political marketing. According to Reflex, the carefree marriage and the proliferating family were the main trump cards in the Paroubek's election campaign, instead of political ideas. Additionally, Reflex published an article comparing the developing pregnancy of Paroubek's wife (Petra Paroubková) with political developments in the Czech Republic. The magazine cover posed images of Paroubek and his wife in simulation of a well-known 1980 photo of Yoko Ono
and John Lennon
. According to Paroubek, the article so seriously disturbed his pregnant wife that she had to be hospitalized. Petra Paroubková sued Reflex in her own right in 2009, when she and her husband were intimately depicted in the Zelený Raoul
comic strip. Paroubková labelled the series as "disgusting and insulting porn comics". Reflex refused to apologize, stating that "pornography is about sex, but we're talking about serious political topics". In 2009, the courts rejected Paroubková's description of the comic as pornographic, and rejected her case.
, by some of his Social Democratic Party colleagues. The issue cover caricatured Rath as Adolf Hitler
and the article title referred to Rath's statement to the newspaper Lidové noviny
: "Hitler solved the crisis by starting armament, by which he gave people jobs and fired up the economy. He won the election with that. Later that resulted in a war. But liberal economists tend to forget that." In August, 2009, Rath filed a lawsuit against Reflex but lost the case. The court considered the caricature neither inappropriate nor uncivil: judge Tomáš Novosad found it justified by Rath's published statement. The editor-in-chief of Reflex, Pavel Šafr, wrote: "we have depicted Mr. Rath as a combination of a clown and a dictator, as a cross-breed of Adolf Hitler and Charlie Chaplin
."
, Mayor of Prague
and member of the Civic Democratic Party was subject of a Reflex article on alleged corruption within Prague's municipal government. The magazine's cover showed Bém with a pig's snout and the article was illustrated with a photomontage of him with a rolled banknote and a line of white powder on a table. Bém planned to sue Reflex, but did not. Instead of it, he sent Reflex a letter protesting his own innocence and their use of a single, unreliable source. Reflex printed his letter in their 21 January 2010 issue.
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
weekly magazine focusing on political, social and cultural topics. It was founded in 1990 and is currently owned by the Swiss
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
media corporation Ringier
Ringier
Ringier AG is one of the largest media corporations in Switzerland founded in Zofingen and based in Zürich. It publishes several newspapers and magazines in both German and French...
. It is one of the Czech Republic's most controversial and widely read social-political magazines; its print circulation of 60,000 copies (as of January, 2010) reaches approximately 270,000 readers. Polls conducted by the Czech Publishers Association (Unie vydavatelů) in 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008 placed Reflex first in its category.
Background
Reflex was founded in 1990 following the Velvet RevolutionVelvet Revolution
The Velvet Revolution or Gentle Revolution was a non-violent revolution in Czechoslovakia that took place from November 17 – December 29, 1989...
in Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
. Its first editor-in-chief, Petr Hájek and a group of promising, like-minded Czech journalists established its combination of political news journal and life style magazine. The result was an original and distinctively Czech approach to current affairs. Hájek's ideas and format were vindicated as Reflex gradually created its own niche within an expanding and increasingly competitive market for Czech periodicals. In 1993 Hájek won the disapproval of some of his colleagues when he sold Reflex to the Swiss corporation Ringier without prior consultation: Josef Klíma, a co-founder of Reflex and a prominent Czech investigative journalist, remembers Hájek as "the greatest disappointment in my life" Hájek left to work as a media consultant in marketing and advertising. From 2003 - 2008 he was campaigner and spokesman for his long-standing political ally, Czech President Václav Klaus
Václav Klaus
Václav Klaus is the second President of the Czech Republic and a former Prime Minister .An economist, he is co-founder of the Civic Democratic Party, the Czech Republic's largest center-right political party. Klaus is a eurosceptic, but he reluctantly endorsed the Lisbon treaty as president of...
.
In 1995, Ringier appointed Petr Bílek as Reflex' editor-in-chief. During Bilek's 13 year tenure the magazine's style and orientation shifted profoundly. According to him, Reflex's position in the early 90's was "idyllic, due to non-existent competition". Its early editions ran to around 200,000 copies; Reflex and a single significant competitor, Respekt
Respekt
Respekt is a weekly newsmagazine in the Czech Republic, reporting on domestic and foreign political and economic issues, as well as on science and culture....
, dominated the free media market. According to Bílek, early Reflex journalism was founded on a "very uncompromising", critical approach to Czechoslovakia's communist past and the surviving remnants of communist attitudes and institutions. As Czech society changed, Reflex kept pace under Bilek, whose editorial policy shifted focus away from the past towards contemporary political events and social changes but its earlier "idyllic" position was eroded by an increasingly competitive, diversified market. Part of its earlier readership was apparently lost to a revamped and modernised Respekt
Respekt
Respekt is a weekly newsmagazine in the Czech Republic, reporting on domestic and foreign political and economic issues, as well as on science and culture....
but it retained a substantial share of the market and remains popular with readers and advertisers: independent estimates found a likely target readership of approximately 270,000 for its January 2010 print circulation of 60,000 copies, making it the most successful advertising vehicle of 2010 among Czech political-social magazines. In 2008, Bílek stepped down. He was replaced by Pavel Šafr, former editor-in-chief of the newspapers Mladá fronta DNES
Mladá fronta DNES
Mladá fronta Dnes, also known as MF DNES or simply Dnes , is the second most sold daily newspaper in the Czech Republic. Its name could be translated into English as Youth Front Today...
and Lidové noviny
Lidové noviny
Lidové noviny is a daily newspaper published in the Czech Republic. It is the oldest Czech daily. Its profile is nowadays a national news daily covering political, economic, cultural and scientific affairs, mostly with a centre-right, conservative view...
: from 2010, Bílek served Reflex as an external editor. In 2010, the NY Times described Reflex as one of the leading weekly periodicals in the Czech Republic.
Style
Reflex has been described as conservative and anti-leftist; its 20th anniversary issue included a manifesto against left-wing ideology and Czech Social Democratic PartyCzech Social Democratic Party
The Czech Social Democratic Party is a social-democratic political party in the Czech Republic.-History:The Social Democratic Czechoslavonic party in Austria was founded on 7 April 1878 in Austria-Hungary representing the Kingdom of Bohemia in the Austrian parliament...
politics. On the website Britské listy
Britské listy
Britské listy is a Czech-language cultural and political internet daily. It is published by a reader-financed NGO Britske Listy o.s. based in Prague....
, Czech media expert Jan Čulík
Jan Culík
Jan Čulík is an independent Czech journalist and academic. He is the founder and editor of the independent Czech Internet daily Britské listy since 1996.-Background:...
positions it between tabloid commercialism and quality journalism. Jiří Pehe describes it as popular but untrustworthy, a right-leaning and rather pro-Civic Democratic Party forum.
Content and controversy
Reflex regularly covers controversial political and social issues in a controversial manner. Regular Reflex contributor Jiří X. Doležal campaigned for the decriminalization of small growers and users of cannabisCannabis
Cannabis is a genus of flowering plants that includes three putative species, Cannabis sativa, Cannabis indica, and Cannabis ruderalis. These three taxa are indigenous to Central Asia, and South Asia. Cannabis has long been used for fibre , for seed and seed oils, for medicinal purposes, and as a...
, and organised an annual contest through the magazine. A Reflex Cannabis Cup was awarded for the best reader's photos of home grown cannabis. In 2010, the Czech legislature adopted more tolerant cannabis laws; Doležal announced the end of the contest: "...in future, the contest should be organized by the cannabis business, not by a social magazine". Some of Reflex's covers have made controversial suggestions about prominent figures in Czech public life and politics.
In 2001, Zelený Raoul
Zelený Raoul
Zelený Raoul is a series of Czech cult satirical comics about unreal things with real politics. It is a part of weekly magazine Reflex, painted by Štěpán Mareš and written by Dan Hrubý, Milan Tesař and Tomáš Baldýnský....
a Reflex satirical comic strip illustrated by Štěpán Mareš showed the former Social-democratic minister Karel Březina in a naked sexual embrace with his wife, the writer Bára Nesvadbová
Bára Nesvadbová
Bára Nesvadbová is a Czech novel, column and fairy-tale writer. She also works as a journalist.- Biography :Barbara was born on the 14th of June 1975 in Prague into the family of two doctors, psychiatrists. Her mother, Libuše Nesvadbová, takes care of immigrants and ethnic minorities. Her father,...
. Březina sued, and won damages and a public apology.
AAA Auto Praha
In 2002, Reflex reported alleged malpractice by AAA Auto Praha, a major Czech used car dealership. Copies of the magazine sold unusually fast: this led to speculation in the major national media (Czech TelevisionCzech television
Czech television may refer to:*Television in the Czech Republic*Česká televize...
, Blesk
Blesk
Blesk is a daily tabloid newspaper in the Czech Republic. Its name translates as The Lightning. It has the highest circulation of any newspaper in the Czech Republic.It is owned by Ringier....
, and Mladá fronta DNES
Mladá fronta DNES
Mladá fronta Dnes, also known as MF DNES or simply Dnes , is the second most sold daily newspaper in the Czech Republic. Its name could be translated into English as Youth Front Today...
) that the company's management had tried to buy the entire print run to avoid public exposure. Anthony James Denny, general manager of the company, denied all the allegations. Reflex reprinted the original report in its next issue.
Jiří Paroubek
Jiří ParoubekJirí Paroubek
Jiří Paroubek is a Czech politician, who served as the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic from 25 April 2005 to 16 August 2006. He was also Chairman of the Czech Social Democratic Party , but resigned from his position immediately after the result of the 2010 Legislative Election was announced...
, former Czech Prime Minister and current Chairman of the Czech Social Democratic Party
Czech Social Democratic Party
The Czech Social Democratic Party is a social-democratic political party in the Czech Republic.-History:The Social Democratic Czechoslavonic party in Austria was founded on 7 April 1878 in Austria-Hungary representing the Kingdom of Bohemia in the Austrian parliament...
(ČSSD), was involved in a lawsuit against Reflex. In 2009, the magazine published a report describing Paroubek's election campaign as an attempt to employ his private life as a part of political marketing. According to Reflex, the carefree marriage and the proliferating family were the main trump cards in the Paroubek's election campaign, instead of political ideas. Additionally, Reflex published an article comparing the developing pregnancy of Paroubek's wife (Petra Paroubková) with political developments in the Czech Republic. The magazine cover posed images of Paroubek and his wife in simulation of a well-known 1980 photo of Yoko Ono
Yoko Ono
is a Japanese artist, musician, author and peace activist, known for her work in avant-garde art, music and filmmaking as well as her marriage to John Lennon...
and John Lennon
John Lennon
John Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...
. According to Paroubek, the article so seriously disturbed his pregnant wife that she had to be hospitalized. Petra Paroubková sued Reflex in her own right in 2009, when she and her husband were intimately depicted in the Zelený Raoul
Zelený Raoul
Zelený Raoul is a series of Czech cult satirical comics about unreal things with real politics. It is a part of weekly magazine Reflex, painted by Štěpán Mareš and written by Dan Hrubý, Milan Tesař and Tomáš Baldýnský....
comic strip. Paroubková labelled the series as "disgusting and insulting porn comics". Reflex refused to apologize, stating that "pornography is about sex, but we're talking about serious political topics". In 2009, the courts rejected Paroubková's description of the comic as pornographic, and rejected her case.
David Rath
In February, 2009, Reflex published an article called "Arbeit Macht Rath", containing criticism of a former Minister of Health for the Czech Republic and current (2010) Governor of Central Bohemian region, David RathDavid Rath
David Rath is a doctor, a politician and the former Minister of Health for the Czech Republic. He is a member of the Czech Social Democratic Party .- Medical career :...
, by some of his Social Democratic Party colleagues. The issue cover caricatured Rath as Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
and the article title referred to Rath's statement to the newspaper Lidové noviny
Lidové noviny
Lidové noviny is a daily newspaper published in the Czech Republic. It is the oldest Czech daily. Its profile is nowadays a national news daily covering political, economic, cultural and scientific affairs, mostly with a centre-right, conservative view...
: "Hitler solved the crisis by starting armament, by which he gave people jobs and fired up the economy. He won the election with that. Later that resulted in a war. But liberal economists tend to forget that." In August, 2009, Rath filed a lawsuit against Reflex but lost the case. The court considered the caricature neither inappropriate nor uncivil: judge Tomáš Novosad found it justified by Rath's published statement. The editor-in-chief of Reflex, Pavel Šafr, wrote: "we have depicted Mr. Rath as a combination of a clown and a dictator, as a cross-breed of Adolf Hitler and Charlie Chaplin
Charlie Chaplin
Sir Charles Spencer "Charlie" Chaplin, KBE was an English comic actor, film director and composer best known for his work during the silent film era. He became the most famous film star in the world before the end of World War I...
."
Pavel Bém
Pavel BémPavel Bém
Pavel Bém is a Czech doctor and politician. Between November 28, 2002 and November 30, 2010 he served as the Mayor of the Capital City of Prague, re-elected 2006...
, Mayor of Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
and member of the Civic Democratic Party was subject of a Reflex article on alleged corruption within Prague's municipal government. The magazine's cover showed Bém with a pig's snout and the article was illustrated with a photomontage of him with a rolled banknote and a line of white powder on a table. Bém planned to sue Reflex, but did not. Instead of it, he sent Reflex a letter protesting his own innocence and their use of a single, unreliable source. Reflex printed his letter in their 21 January 2010 issue.
Contributors
- Pavel Šafr - editor-in-chief
- Petr Bílek - former editor-in-chief
- Jiří X. Doležal
- Tomáš Feřtek
- Pavlína Wolfová
- Tomáš Baldýnský
- Miloš Čermák
- Jan Potůček
- Lucie Tomanová
- Andrej Halada
- Veronika Bednářová
- Bohumil Pečinka
- Jan Šibík - main photographer