Respekt

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Award-winning cover of Respekt magazine. The title says: „Al-Qaeda – ruler of the world“

Respekt (in English The Respect) is a weekly newsmagazine in the Czech Republic, reporting on domestic and foreign political and economic issues, as well as on science and culture.

Editors describe Respekt as a liberal paper which stands up for freedom of thought and the need of continuous questioning its outcomes. The weekly concentrates on investigative journalism and in-depth articles, and has had expanded coverage ecological activism and cultural subgroups in recent years.

1 History
- 1.1 Legal actions
- 1.2 Editors in chief
2 Visual style
- 2.1 Web presence
- 2.2 Notable covers
3 External links

[edit] History

Respekt's first cover (March 14, 1990)

Respekt was founded very soon after fall of communist party from power in 1989 by a group of samizdat journalists as one of the very first independent magazines. Initially it was issued under the title Information service of Civic Forum (Informační servis Občanského Fóra), changing to its present name in March 1990.

Several people involved with Respekt became influential in top level politics of Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic; among them the first editor-in-chief Jan Ruml who served as the Minister of Interior between 1992 and 1997.

The circulation of the weekly peaked at over 100,000 in the middle of the 1990s, and Respekt was bought by Karel Schwarzenberg. Disputes amongst editors regarding the direction of the journal resulted in several editors leaving the weekly; meanwhile circulation dropped causing Respekt's losses to increase to 7 million Czk in 2003. In 2006 Zdeněk Bakala bought Respekt, planning to eliminate the loss by making the journal more mainstream. Bakala brought a new editor-in-chief Martin M. Šimečka, former etitor-in-chief of the Slovak daily SME.

The circulation in 2006 is around 25,000, and Respekt is read by approximately 80,000 people each week. Respekt remains on of the most cited journals and newspapers in the Czech Republic.

[edit] Legal actions

Since Respekt regularly reports on its investigations into bribery scandals, criminal activity or government mishandling, legal action is periodically taken against Respekt, often by top level politicians. Most of these cases that have gone to court have been won by the weekly.

The most visible case was the Czech government's 2001 attempt to sue Respekt for libel. Miloš Zeman, the instigator of the case, saw it as a way to "put the journal to its end" ^[1]. The case fizzled away only embarrassing the government.

[edit] Editors in chief

Jan Ruml (1990)
Ivan Lamper (1990-1994)
Vladimír Mlynář (1994-1997)
Martin Fendrych (1998)
Petr Holub (1998-2002)
Tomáš Němeček (2003-2005)
Marek Švehla (2005-2006)
Martin Milan Šimečka (2006-present)

[edit] Visual style

Respekt has its own distinguished visual style that had changed only little during since it was established in 1990. With A3 format (currently 24 pages) and black & white print it resembles more a daily newspaper than magazine (most of magazines in the Czech Republic are printed on glossy paper with heavy use of color).

Front cover drawings by illustrator Pavel Reisenauer very soon became symbol of the weekly. After several years the front page drawings switched from black and white to color. Reisenauer also contributes with drawings on back side and for the articles.

All photos are black and white and their number is kept relatively low. Advertisements appeared the end of 1991 in very limited form; they still take only small part of the weekly.

With the new owner in 2006 plans to increase circulation by making Respekt more mainstream emerged. Glossy paper, use of color, coverage of day-to-day events or consumer advices are mentioned as possible changes. The "new face" is to be implemented in April 2007.

[edit] Web presence

During early 2000s all old issues of Respekt had been converted into electronic form and made available online for subscribers. Newer issues are downloadable as PDF. Attempt to establish commercial news-bulletin sent by email failed.

[edit] Notable covers

Al-Quaeda: What they do and who they are	United colors of Pyongyang	Putin mastered the golden lamb	Who's afraid of overpopulation?
American choice	A Trip to Usama's homeland	For those who hate Bush	Copying makes music strong