CTK Newsletter No. 2/2003

09.12.2003

Photobank – agency authors’ representation

In an effort to offer the richest possible and thematically varied photo material in the electronic photobank, which is part of the CTK Infobank, CTK represents foreign authors when selling their photographs.
This principle is nothing new in the practice of foreign agencies, but in ČTK conditions it is. It is mutually advantageous - authors have more opportunities to address a wide scale of clients through CTK, the agency for its part makes the payment for a photo only after it has been really bought.
Thanks to the digital environment it is quite easy. The author does not lose his original negative or slide, because the digital form is sufficient for a photo to be entered in the photobank. This means that the author can continue to simultaneously sell his photographs by himself. The accounting software automatically registers each sale and at the end of the month generates the total number for royalty settlement.
The author need not waste his time offering his photos to particular editorial desks but his photographs are permanently contained in CTK’s presentation. In this form he has an open access to other countries as well because CTK naturally cooperates with a number of media not only in Europe, but practically all over the world.
By now more than 80 authors have already signed an agreement with CTK on representation in the sale of photographs. Among them are outstanding photographers Jaroslav Kučera, Petra Růžičková, Oldřich Škácha, Pavel Vácha, or Liba Taylorová living in England and Jan Halaška from the USA.
Through this activity CTK not only expands its current offer but in some cases it obtains very valuable historical materials which can no longer be made because the portrayed persons have passed away. Such is for instance a unique set of photographs by Karl Kestner which systematically maps all significant artists of the second half of the last century.
The access to these photographs is completely standard for the Infobank users, they are not covered by any special regime, they only extend the already varied portfolio of CTK’s photographs offer.

Novelties according to clients’ suggestions included in the Infobank
In the Infobank text databases a new possibility of working with files – the choice Box – has been added. With this choice the marked news items or documents are stored under the icon Cart into a “locker” called Box. In the Box it is possible to gather text files selected from various news as well as documentary or archive databases of the Infobank.

To make the displaying of the results of a selection clearer and especially with regard to easier work with the displayed text we have created the display heading List.

The found out lists of news items are displayed in the whole (not divided) window and the concrete selected news items are then displayed in a separate window. From this window the news items are easier to be downloaded, copied, stored, re-sent.

Football-league database modification
For sports desks as well as the other users of the CTK Infobank who are interested in Czech football, we have prepared a new version of the league football database. The database enables access to data on the 1st league from 1993 until the end of the current season. The main priority of the database is gaining complete ground material on every match played, individual teams, players or coaches with minimum effort, as well as immediate updating and access to the relevant CTK football news service. We will enable you on agreement to test the database for two weeks free of charge.

PDA Infobank version
The Infobank has been accessed to portable devices with a small display – so called PDA Infobank version. This version contains a new simplified text interface optimized for field work and with a slower connection to the Internet. The PDA version has been debugged for Pocket Internet Explorer of the Pocket PC 3.0 system. Please contact the CTK sales executive to secure access to it.

Training on searching in the new Infobank version
If you are interested to participate in the training, please register at e-mail:
docekalova@ctk.cz, (PHONE 222 098 326).
Persons interested in the training will be included in the nearest date in 2004.
We are looking forward to you in CTK, Praha 1, Opletalova 5.

Novelty in Protext – search according to companies
We have newly included in the Protext service pages searching according to companies which have used this service several times in the past.
More than 50 companies are listed and further added continuously. All press releases published in Protext by particular companies are stated as well as the logo of a majority of them and business information, the source of which is the CEKIA agency. Search is located on the main page at the top left.
The commercial service CTK Protext is destined for publishing full texts of press releases in the original unchanged form.
News items published as Protext go automatically together with the ordered CTK news services to almost all media in the Czech Republic, major foreign media, civil service bodies, companies, financial and advisory institutions. At the same time all press releases are published on websites www.protext.cz and by clicking from the agency site www.ctk.cz. The published news is accessible free of charge. By means of this service both companies and individuals and public institutions can inform the public.
Results of “Press releases and national institutions” research.
National institutions and the way they publish the full texts of their press releases in agency services were subject to a research which the Alliance of European News Agencies (EANA) carried out among its members in October. The research showed that national institutions use the paid distribution of press releases at 80 per cent of news agencies, whereas 50 per cent of these news agencies established a special column for the original texts of national institutions within the framework of the paid distribution of press releases. News items published in this way are always clearly marked as original press releases of the ordering side.

We introduce CTK services - this time the European Union Database product
The European Union Database is the first so-called summary database in the Infobank offer in which we have put together various sources. The database is a joint daily updated product of the documentary, home, foreign, business, graphics and photo news desks.
Buying access to the database the user gains access to information containing namely the characteristics of the EU bodies and institutions (including internet addresses), a chronology of EU relations with the Czech Republic and some other countries, a chronology of the major developments in the Union, fundamental documents of the European Union, including those which concern enlargement, excerpts or descriptions of documents for an easier and faster orientation, and basic political and business data on the member and candidate countries. Available in the database are also researches of public opinion related to the Union, biographies of EU key personalities (including photographs) and its member as well as candidate countries, information on EU finances (structural funds, budget etc.), data on the European Monetary Union (including photographs and infographics), Union programmes, a dictionary of enlargement and also naturally the latest news items on Union developments.
If the user is not interested in such a broad range of information, CTK offers only a part of the European Union database called Facts on the EU, which is a sort of a daily updated encyclopaedia of the main terms and events in the Union. It is possible to easily and quickly search for data on European bodies and institutions, policies (transport, agricultural, regional etc.), programmes (for instance in education) as well as basic treaties (among others the EU Treaty, the Treaty of Accession, the draft European Constitution). Main events, arranged according to spheres (for instance the environment, health and consumer protection, economic competition) and EU relations with some countries (Czech Republic, Slovak Republic Hungary, Poland, the USA, Russia etc.) or groups of states (the Mediterranean, ASEAN) are also daily updated. A special attention is paid to EU enlargement (including transitional periods of the Czech Republic and other candidates, and structural funds). The majority of documents also feature the Internet address and references to other related material.