1.01.2021
The Czech News Agency (ČTK), namely its Protext division, has succeeded in the European Parliament's (EP) tender for providing multimedia, consistent and long-term information on the EP's policies, on the fulfilment of the EU's priorities and on combating the COVID-19 pandemic.
This assignment assumes that the ČTK itself as well as in cooperation with its media partners will, from December 31, 2020 to June 30, 2022, bring not only news but also analyses, comments, virtual debates and interviews with domestic and foreign politicians and analysts to illustrate and explain current developments in the EU. The key moments of this project named "Europe against COVID-19" will be the plenary sessions of the EP and the European Council, the details of the Multiannual Financial Framework (EU budget until 2027) including the Recovery Fund, the basic strategy of the cohesion policy and eventually also the presidency of the Czech Republic in the Council of the EU at the end of the project. To fulfil these goals, the ČTK Protext division has formed a special team of editorial and technical specialists. Individual contributions will be published in the form of texts, photographs, videos, streams and podcasts.
"This is an unparalleled project in the history of the ČTK as well as on the level of the national media scene. This is the first opportunity for the ČTK to work so closely with one of Europe's top institutions. At the same time, thanks to agreements with other players, we can offer an unprecedented media reach, which we estimate at 3.6 million readers, viewers and listeners in the given period," said Jaroslav Kábele, the ČTK's Director of Strategy and Development.
The progress of the work and the form and frequency of the outputs published will be prepared by the ČTK in close cooperation with the Prague office of the European Parliament in the Czech Republic. In 2020, ČTK Protext ran a several-month special section on the coronavirus pandemic on the Českénoviny.cz website under a contract with the EP. In it, both parties focused on proposals regarding the fight against the pandemic and the allocation of funds for the economic recovery of the economies of the EU member states. These efforts resulted in the European Parliament in December adopting the basic outlines of the seven-year budget of the European Union, the unblocking of which had been agreed at a summit of the heads of state and government of the EU member states.