Committee for Editorial Independence
The Economia media house aims to be a synonym of free, professional journalism, and that is why on the initiative of its owner and Board of Directors it set up the Committee for Editorial Independence. The Committee’s role as a completely independent body is to promote the idea of free media and to guarantee to readers and the general public that Economia’s journalists and editors may carry out their work free from inappropriate interference.
The Committee seeks to improve not only the Czech media environment, but also to advance the journalistic culture of Central and Eastern Europe, and possibly of other countries. The Committee members publicly advocate independent journalism, monitor the level of media freedom both in this country and in the region, and they publish statements and reports.
The Committee focuses primarily on ensuring that journalists and editors of all Economia’s publications and online media may do their work without being influenced by Economia’s shareholder. Any journalist or editor of Economia who believes to have been subjected to direct or indirect interference from Economia’s owner may contact the Committee. Also, any other person outside Economia who can substantiate that the work of any of Economia’s journalists or editors has been affected by such interference may contact the Committee. The Committee does not deal with submissions which are evidently baseless or vexatious.
Submissions may be sent by e-mail to rada@economia.cz, or by post to the Economia’s address, attention Secretary of the Committee. In case a submission does not meet the criteria for its review and processing, the Secretary will notify the claimant and will request the submission to be supplemented with additional information. In case the Committee arrives at the conclusion that editorial freedom has been affected by interference from Economia’s shareholder, it may publish its findings and propose appropriate measures to the Board of Directors of Economia. The Secretary shall inform the claimant about the Committee’s decision.
The Committee is completely independent and reports neither to other Economia’s bodies nor to its shareholder. Therefore, its statements need not reflect the official opinion of the Economia media house.
Members of the Committee are experienced journalists and media experts from several European countries:
Chairman:
Misha Glenny
Misha is an author and journalist with a rich background in cyber security, geopolitics, criminology and broadcasting. He studied at the University of Bristol and Prague's Charles University before becoming Central Europe correspondent for The Guardian and later the BBC. He specialized in reporting on the Yugoslav wars in the early 1990s. While at the BBC, Glenny won a Sony Gold Award for his "outstanding contribution to broadcasting". As an author he has published three books about Central and Eastern Europe. His best-selling non-fiction book, McMafia - about the globalization of organized crime - was adapted into a major TV drama series broadcast in the US and UK.
Members:
Aleksander Kaczorowski
Aleksander is a Polish editor, bohemist, author of various books and translator of Czech literature. He is currently an editor-in-chief of Aspen Review Central Europe, former deputy editor-in-chief of Newsweek Polska and chief editor of the Op-ed section of Gazeta Wyborcza. His recent books include biographies of Václav Havel, Bohumil Hrabal and Ota Pavel. He won the Ambassador of New Europe Prize, awarded by the European Solidarity Center in Gdańsk (2015) and the Václav Burian Prize.
Václav Štětka
Václav Štětka is Lecturer in Communication and Media Studies at Loughborough University in the UK, and member of the university's Centre for Research in Communication and Culture. His research interests encompass political communication and the role of new media, media systems in Central and Eastern Europe, media ownership and journalistic autonomy. Since 2016 he has been Vice-Chair of the Political Communication Section of ECREA (European Communication Research and Education Association).
Alexandra Borchardt
Alexandra is a senior journalist and book author, journalism professor, media consultant and Senior Research Associate at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at the University of Oxford. She also supports local newsrooms with digital transformation as a coach for Wan-Ifra’s Table Stakes Europe project and co-leads the Digital Journalism Fellowship at Hamburg Media School. She serves as an expert on the Council of Europe Committee on Freedom of Expression and Digital Technologies. Prior to this she was Director of Leadership Programmes at the Reuters Institute and before that managing editor of Süddeutsche Zeitung.
