Blesk - The History and Development of the Most Read Daily Newspaper in the Czech Republic

This master's thesis aims at the development of the most successful Czech tabloid journal Blesk. It starts with the comparison of Czech and foreign tabloids. Subsequently, it captures the history of Czechoslovakian and Czech tabloids from the First Republic until the present day. This thesis also deals with the journals that unsuccessfully tried to compete with the journal Blesk. Nowadays, the only remaining tabloid journal is Aha!, nevertheless it is owned by the same publishing company as the journal Blesk. Further, the thesis pays attention to the main personalities who helped to shape the form of the journal. It inquires into the development of the graphical shape of the front pages and it tries to interpret their symbolical message, both by the means of qualitative analyses. Alongside that, it deals with the editors and their influence on the development of the journal, its visual form, and the choice of topics on the front pages. The journal Blesk also includes advertisements, and this thesis focuses on that too