21.08.2024
Jaromír Mrhal will become a permanent correspondent of the Czech News Agency (ČTK) in Germany from September 1, 2024, replacing Aleš Zápotocký, who has been working in Berlin for the past four years. Zápotocký is returning to ČTK's foreign news desk in Prague.
ČTK's new Berlin correspondent Jaromír Mrhal (ČTK/Martin Štěrba, 2024).
"Aleš deserves words of thanks and appreciation for his work in Berlin. He went there amid the COVID-19 pandemic and covered the end of a great political era in Germany, the departure of Chancellor Angela Merkel, among other things. As a complete generalist, he was able to cover a lot of interesting topics and write in a very engaging manner not only about politics but also about economy and sports, most recently during the European Football Championship," said ČTK’s editor-in-chief Radka Matesová Marková.
His successor, Jaromír Mrhal, has focused on Germany since his studies and is one of the most experienced editors at the foreign news desk. "I believe that Jaromír's erudition and good nose for news topics guarantee that ČTK's coverage from Berlin will continue to be an important source of information not only for the Czech media," the editor-in-chief added.
Jaromír Mrhal (38) has been working at the foreign news desk of ČTK since 2014. As an editor, he has focused mainly on German-speaking countries and Western Europe. He has regularly travelled to Germany and Austria as a crew member, for example during elections. In addition, he has also covered other major events of the past decade for a long time, such as Britain's departure from the European Union, for which he received ČTK’s annual Golden Pen editorial award. Since 2021, he has worked as ČKT’s foreign news desk editor.
He studied history and German at the Faculty of Education of Charles University and Czech-German studies at the Faculty of Social Sciences of Charles University. During his studies, he spent a total of three and half years at universities in Germany and Austria, and after his studies, he worked as an assistant to a member of the Bundestag in Berlin as a scholarship holder. He speaks German, English and Spanish, and has a passive knowledge of French and Italian.
In addition to Berlin, the Czech News Agency has permanent foreign correspondents in Brussels and Bratislava. It also regularly sends special correspondents abroad to cover major news events.