The Czech News Agency ( cs, Česká tisková kancelář), abbreviated to ČTK, is a national

public service A public service is any service intended to address specific needs pertaining to the aggregate members of a community. Public services are available to people within a government jurisdiction as provided directly through public sector agencies ...

news agency A news agency is an organization that gathers news reports and sells them to subscribing news organizations, such as newspapers, magazines and radio and television broadcasters. A news agency may also be referred to as a wire service, newswir ...

in the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

. It publishes in Czech and English. It discontinued its

Slovak language Slovak () , is a West Slavic language of the Czech–Slovak group, written in Latin script. It is part of the Indo-European language family, and is one of the Slavic languages, which are part of the larger Balto-Slavic branch. Spoken by app ...

service on 1 January 2011. Founded on 28 October 1918, on the same day as

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

's formation, the company has been owned by the government and used by the various regimes in the

Czech lands The Czech lands or the Bohemian lands ( cs, České země ) are the three historical regions of Bohemia, Moravia, and Czech Silesia. Together the three have formed the Czech part of Czechoslovakia since 1918, the Czech Socialist Republic sin ...

since then. Following the

Velvet Revolution The Velvet Revolution ( cs, Sametová revoluce) or Gentle Revolution ( sk, Nežná revolúcia) was a non-violent transition of power in what was then Czechoslovakia, occurring from 17 November to 28 November 1989. Popular demonstrations agains ...

of 1989, the government ceased interfering in editorial decisions. In 1993 the government relinquished control of the agency, which has since been governed by a board of seven people elected by the lower house of Parliament. Members of the board are not allowed to be politically active.www.ctk.eu
/ref> The agency's state

subsidy A subsidy or government incentive is a form of financial aid or support extended to an economic sector (business, or individual) generally with the aim of promoting economic and social policy. Although commonly extended from the government, the ter ...

was discontinued in 1996. It was renamed from Czechoslovak to Czech News Agency on 1 January 1993 when Czechoslovakia split. CTK, however, stayed active in the Slovak market. Its former Slovak part is a separate company under a different set-up called TASR - News Agency of the Slovak Republic.www.tasr.sk

Footnotes

News agencies based in the Czech Republic Companies of Czechoslovakia Publishing companies established in 1993 Photo agencies Mass media in Prague {{CzechRepublic-stub