The Czech News Agency (ČTK) is a news agency based in Opletalova Street in Prague. It was established on 28 October 1918, on the same day as the Czechoslovak Republic, originally under the name Československá tisková kancelář. Until the 1990s it was a state agency, and according to its website its history is closely bound up with the fortunes of the Czechoslovak state. [1]
Building the agency
From 1920 to 1930 the agency was headed by Emil Čermák, regarded as its founder. He built an agency that was modern for its time, with an extensive network of domestic and foreign correspondents. The Czech News Agency concluded contracts with Reuters, Havas and Wolff and took part in the creation of the first organisation of European news agencies, Agences Alliées. Under an agreement with Radiojournal from 1925, radio news was broadcast from a studio in the agency's building. In the 1920s, under the leadership of Artuš Černík, a picture news service was established, the basis of the photo archive, which developed more markedly in the 1930s. In September 1930 the agency moved into a new functionalist building in Opletalova Street. [1]
War and the post-war period
During the occupation of Czechoslovakia in March 1939, the report was read out in the agency's radio news by the actor Zdeněk Štěpánek. After the establishment of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, the Slovak part split off from the agency and the Nazis took it over. In August 1939 Zdeněk Schmoranz, head of the press department of the Presidium of the Council of Ministers, was arrested, and later also the editor-in-chief Arnošt Bareš; through the agency they had organised the resistance activity of a group of press officers. Schmoranz was executed in 1942 together with other editors. During the liberation in May 1945 a fire broke out in the building and the archive of the text news service burned down. [1]
From 1948 the agency came under the influence of the communist dictatorship and became an instrument of propaganda of the ruling party. The news was heavily censored and was issued in two kinds, public and non-public for senior party and state officials. Formally it was subordinate to the government, but in fact it was run by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. In the second half of the 1950s its export service reached as far as the Far East, Latin America and later Africa, and broadcasts abroad were made in English, French, Spanish and Russian. In the 1960s the publishing house Pressfoto, the magazine 100+1 and the advertising agency Made in... were established. [1]
Legal status and services
The agency was established by Act No. 517/1992 Coll. The state is not liable for its obligations, nor is the agency liable for those of the state. According to its website it receives no state subsidies or other public funds and is financed from the sale of news. The supervisory body is the ČTK Council, elected by the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic. As of 1 January 2025 the agency had 256 employees, of whom 189 were editorial staff, and 14 domestic branches. [2]
Its offer includes Infobanka, with news in Czech and English and an archive of printed dailies, Fotobanka, with more than five million images, about two million of which are publicly accessible, and Videobanka. The subsidiary Profimedia operates a photo bank with 200 million images. The agency also draws on the services of the agencies Reuters, AFP, AP, TASS and DPA. [2]