Abstrakt
Finding a foreign correspondent in the Czech Republic (CR) was quite difficult. Official registration for foreign correspondents is not required, and there are no clubs or professional organisations for foreign reporters.
To map the situation in Czech Republic the authors of the article searched major European and world media sources for authors of articles concerning the CR. In addition, they utilized a list of accredited foreign journalists (accreditation is optional) that was published regularly on the websites of the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The Czech Republic, being a small country in Central Europe, has not been receiving much of the international press. According to several classifications of countries in relationship to their newsworthiness, the CR is a "peripheral" country.
Many news values must be involved in a story about the CR to make it into the international media. For example, in the international version of the news magazine Time, Czech topics appeared only three times in 2011 and 2012.
The stories covered the deaths of comic artist Zdeněk Miler, former president Václav Havel and novelist Josef Škvorecký. The situation was different in 1989 after the Velvet Revolution.
Journalists from afar flocked to the CR. More articles were published in the foreign press and TV news broadcasts increased.
The country, guided through dramatic transition by a charismatic president, became "trendy". After a year or two and the establishment of "normal" politics and political wrangling, attention began to fade.
International interest rose slightly in 2009 when the CR presided over the European Union and the Czech government collapsed. Based on the semi-structured interviews with foreign correspondents in CR the chapter described their situation and position, as well as challenges they were facing, and their perspective of the Czech Republic.