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Before the holidays, Markíza has to deal with the departure of one of the most prominent figures in his management. After 11 years, Henrich Krejča is giving up his position.
The most watched TV news in Slovakia is losing its boss.
Director of the Markízy News and Advertising Center, Henrich Krejčatoday announced to his colleagues that he is leaving television, where he has worked virtually since its inception in 1996.
He only left it for a short time when he resigned in 2010 following the cancellation of the Paľba show, which he directed and hosted content. In 2012 he returned to Markíza as head of news and journalism after his predecessor Lukáš Diko moved to the management of the public broadcaster RTVS following his previous boss.
With a break, Krejča worked in Markíza for 27 years, and was head of news for 11 years.
Successor to Nova
After Krejč’s departure, Markíza will be even closer to its sister channel, Czech television Nova, with which the company shares the same ownership.
The previous editor-in-chief of TV Nova News will be promoted to the higher position of Director of News and Journalism of Markíza Michal Kratochvilwho therefore moves to Slovakia.
He worked as editor-in-chief at Nova for 6 years.
Today the Czech head of state announced Kratochvíl’s death on television. He will be replaced by the previous head of the TN.CZ website, Vladimír Rosol.
The pressure on Marquis News is growing
For Markíza, television news is a showcase, but also the reason for escalating expressions of hate towards television.
Krejča is leaving Markíza at a time when part of the political power is openly against him and pressure on his content is growing.
Some time ago, the TV boss fell out of favor with some voters in the current coalition because of a headline about “devastation” at the protest rally in September 2022 on the evening of Televízne noviny. Along with other mainstream media outlets, it is under increasing pressure for past reporting on the war in Ukraine or the Covid pandemic.
“I only told our people one thing – facts, facts and more facts.” No emotions, no unnecessary comments. Because we could cause panic. I think we’ve made it as far as we can with Marquis,” He told Aktually in May 2020 about the principles that the editorial team had established when reporting on the coronavirus after the crisis broke out.
After the outbreak of war in Ukraine, he recalled that televisions are subject to strict regulation and, unlike the Internet, are not even allowed to spread lies and nonsense.
“In critical moments it becomes clear that television still plays an important role. We see it in the strong viewership and response – be it during the pandemic or during this conflict. It gives me a good feeling that our work still has meaning even in the age of the Internet and social networks. Unfortunately, the online world is full of misinformation, hoaxes and conspiracies and we cannot and do not want to spread lies and nonsense. I believe that viewers still need our reporting on this,” he told Denník N in April 2022.
For several months, Markíza has been boycotted by the leader of the Smer-SSD political party, Robert Fico.
On television, he also caused the chaos before the parliamentary elections in September, when Markíza had to adjust the format and even the broadcast day of the major prime-time pre-election debate several times. There was a threat that the presidents of the three strongest political parties would not come to their studio.
Fico has long been escalating the negative narrative towards the most watched television in Slovakia, which is increasingly the target of hate comments, for example on social networks.
After the election victory, the Prime Minister of the Slovak Republic described Markíza, along with the newspapers SME, N and Aktuality, as hostile media.
“Our job is not to praise politicians, but also to criticize them unjustifiably.” Our job is to confront them with facts or reality. And our job is to protect the officials, as I said – to protect democracy. “The quicker we draw attention to something, the fewer the consequences will be,” he said in an interview in 2020, when Igor Matovič was prime minister.
He wanted “good cinema” from the news
Henrich Krejča presented his vision of the form of television news shortly after taking office as head of news and journalism at Markíza.
Even then, they faced criticism that they were tabloids and focused on tragedies.
“I’m not the type of person who wants to do drastic things at any cost just to get people to watch it.” The marquee was never like that. Some reports were said to have had more tabloid coverage. But I would really like to know who in this country actually knows what a boulevard is, what is across the border?” he asked in an interview with the daily newspaper SME in October 2012.
He admitted that his goal was to keep viewers watching Televízne noviny from start to finish.
“The reports must be understandable and popular, they must be beautifully translated into images so that they are strong and juicy.” In the spirit of a good film. (…) I like good cinema. A dynamic and concise palette of images and sounds. I was always the type of editor who liked action stuff, so they sent me to tsunamis, to Indonesia, to Pakistan, to the fall of the twins. I like speed and expressiveness.’
After ten years, he stood by his words.
“I don’t know what’s so strange about it. Both a good documentary and a news report must be engaging. (…) You want to see a good film in the cinema. If he bores you or you don’t understand him, you leave. And I don’t want anyone to leave our messages. The audience has to judge whether we are successful, but that has been my intention for ten years.” commented on his earlier words in an interview with Denník N in April 2022.
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