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Prague – Three candidates applied for the selection process for the new general director of the Czech Press Agency (ČTK). All of them fulfilled the formalities and advanced to the second round, which is the public hearing on March 21. The ČTK board decided on it today. The term of office of the current CEO Jiří Majstro ends on June 10.
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According to the order of applications received, ČTK strategy director Jaroslav Kábele, journalist and former foreign correspondent of ČTK Tomáš Pergler and former chairman of the Council of Czech Television Jan Mrzena applied for the tender. The Master has been running ČTK for the last two election periods. During his last election in 2017, he stated that he would not run for a third term.
The Council elects the CEO of ČTK for a six-year term. Applicants must have, among other things, experience in the media and experience in management functions in the media. The text with the detailed conditions of the selection process is available on the websites of the council and CTK.
The public hearing of the candidates on March 21 and the subsequent election will be carried out by the changed CTK Council. As of today, Petar Žantovský's mandate in it has ended, and Pavlo Foltán's will end on March 8. Last week, the lower house elected former TOP 09 deputy Daniel Korte and university teacher Jakub Končelík to their places.
ČTK was founded in 1918 as a state agency, since 1993 it has been a public institution separate from the state in terms of property and economy. The body exercising the public's right to control it is the seven-member ČTK Council elected by the Chamber of Deputies. The agency employs 250 people.
This year, the national agency will operate on a deficit budget with a loss of 4.8 million crowns. The reason is the sharp increase in energy prices together with inflation. The year before last, it reported a profit of 4.2 million crowns, and it also expects to be profitable for last year. Last year, total sales increased by 5.9 percent to 283 million crowns.
