CONTENTS:
DATABASE OF EVENTS – A CLEAR OVERVIEW OF UPCOMING EVENTS
VIDEO NEWS SERVICE EXPANDS
VIDEOBANK UNDERGOES A FACELIFT
CZECH SHOW BUSINESS IN THE ČTK PHOTOBANK
NEW IN THE PHOTOBANK – “PHOTO SCHEDULE”
ENGLISH OFFER – PHOTO SERVICE IN ENGLISH
A NEW FORMAT FOR NEWS
SEMINARS ON WORKING WITH THE ČTK SERVICE
SPECIAL SMS SERVICE FOR JOURNALISTS
Newsletter in PDF format
Database of events – a clear overview
of upcoming events
The Prague editorial staff in Opletalova street.
The world is full of important events
every day, but not all of them make it
into the newspapers. If the media are
to cover everything that the public is
looking for, journalists need to know
about scheduled events.
What does this mean for a press
agency? This is a question that ČTK
asks itself more frequently than
readers may think.
Scheduled events are a hot agency topic
and a valuable product. One third to a half
of media content is based on events that
were known ahead of time. The fact that
this kind of information has been becoming
ever more concentrated in ČTK, represents
both an obligation and a challenge for the
agency.
We have offered our clients information on
upcoming events since the very beginning –
the first such item was published 4 November
1918, a week after ČTK’s founding. Much
has changed since that time, and today’s
new technical possibilities and new media
requirements call for further change. We
have therefore re-organised this service
using a database of upcoming events which
offers clients the broadest possible range of
options. ČTK can thus offer a new way of
storing, searching for and finding this kind
of information.
All sorts of people in ČTK look for and store
information on upcoming events: foreign
and domestic correspondents, Prague and
regional reporters, and journalists tracking
foreign press and agency news. ČTK
receives hundreds of such announcements
from state officials, companies, financial
institutions and non-governmental
organisations. Whenever we get our hands
on such information, we always do the
same – we thrown them all into one sack.
Now, we have opened this sack to our clients
in such a manner that they do not all have to
dive in at the same time.
This “sack” is a brand new database whose
search features of course meet the needs of
our clients – otherwise the service would
lose all meaning. There are many clients and
even more requests and needs. They include
not only media, but also communications
and media agencies, institutions’ press
departments, betting agencies and cultural
organisations. Some focus on politics,
others on finance or sports, still others
on entertainment. Our clients must have
the possibility of searching for an event
according to a given topic. Sometimes,
they need to know a specific day, week,
or even hour, and so they must have the
option of searching according to a specific
time frame. And because ČTK’s clients are
located in all parts of the Czech Republic
and Slovakia, it must also be possible to
search by region. Clients can also search
according to the importance placed on the
event by the agency.
Nor have we forgotten those clients who
will want to search “just for the sake of
it”. It is hence also possible to do a fulltext
search, i.e., to search among all the words
contained in the database. Then there are
clients who want a ready-made product
– for these clients, we offer previously
prepared, regularly updated selections. It’s
all just a click away.
The resulting service aims above all to be an
aid. The information database expands every
day, with roughly 7,000 new items added
every month. At ČTK we are confident that
we are capable of offering our colleagues
a powerful tool for finding the right item, for
planning their reports, their communication
campaign, and their media relations.
Please contact the CTK sales department
for a free trial period at:
obchodni@mail.ctk.cz.
News from ČTK’s video department
The new look of the ČTK Videobank gives visitors a quicker overview of content.
Video news service expands
At the beginning of 2007, ČTK’s video
news service was expanded to include
foreign news and events taken from the
American Agency Associated Press agency
(APTN). ČTK now has the possibility
to select and compile features from more
than fifty news items everyday.
ČTK offers its clients five to ten news
reports a day, covering domestic and
foreign events, features on lifestyle and
movie premieres. The current main subscribers
to ČTK’s video service are internet
news servers such as Novinky.cz,
Blesk.cz, Aktualne.cz and Ceskenoviny.cz. Several television stations subscribe to
ČTK’s video reports as well, in particular
Slovakia’s TA3 news station. ČTK has
also prepared modified content for mobile
operators.
Videobank undergoes
a facelift
Access to the videobank is available to
all ČTK clients who receive news reports
through one of our business models. It is
clear at first glance that the new format
offers more information from a longer
period of time. A brief animation of the
report in the individual reports’ windows
gives the visitor a quick overview of its
content. Windows containing today’s news
are in red. The column “Coming Events”,
which is updated every day at 8:30 a.m.
and 2 p.m., shows the latest information
on events we expect to film. The simpler
navigation facilitates the search for news
reports – for instance, searching for past
reports or reports on a specific person or
issue.
News from the photographic department
Slovak supermodel Andrea Verešová waves after
her marriage to Plzeň lawyer Daniel Volopich
at the Kynžvart chateau.
Czech show business in the ČTK Photobank
Today’s readers are ever more likely
to pay attention to what is going on
behind the scenes instead of on
stage, they are attracted to parties
instead of formal ceremonies,
and are ever more interested in
celebrities’ private lives. For these
reasons, we have prepared a new
photo service from the turbulent life
of Czech show business.
Lucie Vondráčková and actor Miroslav Vladyka
at a party at Prague restaurant U pavouka.
The service offers 20 to 30 photographs
a day, produced mainly by a special
team of photojournalists assigned for the
magazine service. The team has been
recently reinforced by Veronika Šimková,
an experienced photojournalist who
previously worked for magazines such as
Paparazzi, Šíp, AHA and Šťastný Jim.
Robert Rosenberg with his wife, porno actress Žaneta
Vavrochová, at Prague club Amores Perros.
The photographs are most easily found
in the Kaleidoscope section, our special
up-to-date service on curiosities, trends,
discoveries and inventions in the world
around us. The service cannot be purchased
individually, but is automatically accessible
to all Kaleidoscope subscribers.
For more information, please contact
the photographic department’s sales
division: musilova@mail.ctk.cz.
New in the Photobank
– “Photo Schedule”
In response to client demand, a new
section called “Photo Schedule” was
created in the photobank last March,
offering an overview of the photo
news service’s schedule of events. The
schedule contains a description and the
place and time of events.
New schedules are published every
weekday at 8.30 a.m. and 2 p.m.,
at 9 a.m. on weekends and holidays.
The Photo Schedule can also be searched
in the ČTK Infobank’s text section. Just
enter “photo schedule” as keywords.
English offer – photo
service in English
Zbyněk Irgl, forward for the Czech national ice hockey
team, arrives for the start of team practice 23 April
at Prague’s T-Mobile Arena.
The ČTK Photobank offers a new English language
photo service providing clients
with English-captioned photographs from
the most important news and events from
the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
Events can be illustrated using not
only photographs from our daily image
service, but also archival images from our
photographic archives. The captions are
more detailed than in the Czech-language
service, thus facilitating the search
for additional information. There are
currently around 4,500 images available
in English, with the collection updated by
roughly 15 new photographs per day.
The service can be purchased individually
or as part of a subscription package of
services in the form of individual items or
a Fl at-rate subscription.
For more information, please contact
the photographic department’s sales
division: musilova@mail.ctk.cz.
A new format
for the news
In connection with last year’s introduction of its new
editorial system, ČTK has begun to offer news in the
NewsML format. This new format gives subscribers
the ability to work with a far richer set of metadata
– information describing the report itself – than was
possible before.
In addition to its simple XML-based coding and support for
standard metadata fi les and their ČTK-defi ned distribution, the
new format’s most signifi cant benefi t is its ability to link various
published documents. Subscribers to the agency’s services can
thus automatically replace news items in their systems with new
or updated versions; they also receive information about which
news items, photographs, sound bites or info-graphs are related
to which events. All this information is provided using clearly
defi ned and easily processed code.
All forms of transmitted services – i.e., practically all types of
news, except for video – are available in the new format. For
clients who receive our services via ČTK’s satellite distribution
network, we have prepared new IRIS mail servers with new
software and new DVB-S receivers.
Besides the advantages offered by the more powerful receiver
hardware and the increased capacity for storing received
news items, photographs and other objects, the new software
also enables the reception of news in the NewsML format, its
conversion into other formats directly in the receiver using
XSLT templates and the transmission of news in the new formats
to the subscribers’ systems. The templates for format conversion
can be altered according to the subscriber’s individual needs.
In addition to the distribution of news in new formats, the updated
IRIS also supports the reception and distribution of animated
info-graphics. Over the course of the year, we are preparing
to implement an entirely new version of mail servers which
will expand the possibilities for working with the new format
directly on servers and thus also offers benefi ts to subscribers
who use IRIS servers as their main tool for working with the
ČTK news service.
Requests for specifi c news samples in the NewsML format
can be sent to uit@mail.ctk.cz.
Seminars on working with the ČTK service
Our clients are invited to attend
seminars on the ČTK Infobank, held at
the ČTK offices, Opletalova street 5-7,
Prague 1.
The traditional users’ seminar on working effectively with the
Infobank will be held on 20 June 2007 at 10 a.m.
Seminars on new services offered by ČTK Schedules, ČTK
Schedules – Options and Database of Events will take place
on 21 June 2007 at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.
We will gladly reply to clients’ questions regarding changes in
ČTK’s news service not covered in the seminars. Participation is
free of charge.
Seminars on working with the ČTK service
Please send your applications to: docekalova@mail.ctk.cz.
Special SMS service
for journalists
On 1 May, ČTK launched a new
SMS service for journalists
through its subsidiary Neris.
The purpose of this new service
is to offer an operational tool
for organising journalistic work
and providing information on
the latest news published in the
Czech media.
The service includes a morning
information bulletin on the main themes
found in the daily press and an evening
bulletin on the themes covered by the
news programs of all major television
stations. During the day, journalists
are informed on important press
conferences and other media events
relevant to their work.
The agency offers regular CTK general
news subscribers delivery of this service
to two mobile phones free of charge.
CTK Newsletter No. 10 5/2007