Selected aspects of regional public service television broadcasting in the Czech Republic and Denmark

Public service television broadcasting holds a key role in the European media landscape. Furthermore, when we step down from the national level and take a look into individual regions, its importance and unique position become even more apparent. Local media companies may get bundled by strong ties between editorial staff and local advertisers while the official city journals may tend to function more like a mayor's speaking trumpet than impartial newspapers. Public service television - independent of local politicians or advertisers - has an opportunity to serve as one of the few unbiased and economically stable information sources, letting the people know about what's happening in their neighborhood: At the town hall, county seat or anywhere else within their own region. The Czech TV fulfills this role since its foundation in 1992. Starting with only seven regional newsrooms, it now operates 14 of them with a couple of new studios being built right now as the Czech TV aims to start self-reliant regional broadcasting in near future. This thesis brings a comparative study focused on the position, operations and production of the Czech TV's regional newsrooms in comparison with the situation in Denmark where regional public service television broadcasting enjoys a very privileged status since 1980s. We will..