Prague Post

''The Prague Post'' was an English language newspaper covering the Czech Republic and Central and Eastern Europe which published its first weekly issue on October 1, 1991. It published a printed edition weekly until July 2013, when it dropped the printed product but continued to produce online material. (The current website located at PraguePost.com has no affiliation with the original newspaper.) In 2016 the Prague Post filed for bankruptcy.

The Prague Post’s archives are available at https://archive.org/.

Compared to other Prague-based English newspapers, Prognosis 1991-1995 and Prague Pill 2001-2003 —the Prague Post was the longest running English-language newspaper in the Czech Republic. Its target audience included English-speaking expatriates living in the Czech Republic or neighboring countries, Czech readers seeking news from an international perspective and tourists visiting the Czech Republic. With a print run of about 19,000 copies, The Prague Post reached approximately 40,000 readers a week with its print edition published every Wednesday. In 2013, The Prague Post ceased its print edition and moved to an online-only format. Its website at its peak had 40,000 unique users generating 150,000 page views per month.

The history of the newspaper began in Prague, two years after the Velvet Revolution, specifically in 1991.

Mission and goals

''The Prague Post'' was an English-language information source in the Czech Republic through its newspaper, and related products and services.

''The Prague Post'' newspaper was published by Prague Post, spol. s r.o. (spol. s r.o. = Ltd.).

History

In July 1991, Lisa Frankenberg (now Lisa Leshne) and Kent Hawryluk, two employees of ''Prognosis'', an English-language monthly newspaper in Prague which began publication in March 1991, came to the realization that there was a ripe market in the then Czechoslovakia for a weekly broadsheet newspaper.

Together with Monroe Luther, an investor from Houston, Texas, they formed Lion's Share Group, a privately held, Czech limited-liability company (spol s r.o.) that was created to be the information leader in the region. Kent Hawryluk served as Founding Publisher and Lisa Frankenberg as Founding General Manager. Other programs introduced at that time were the Business Network, Lion's Share Group Publishing and the Prague Post Foundation (set up separately as a Czech-registered, non-profit foundation, and which later became The Prague Post Endowment Fund with the change in Czech nonprofit laws).

The mission of ''The Prague Post'' was simple and direct: to publish the best possible English-language newspaper for and about the rapidly changing Czechoslovakia and more broadly, Central Europe. The aim was to place particular emphasis on news, business, and cultural listings.

Alan Levy, a foreign correspondent for the International Herald Tribune and author of ''So Many Heroes'', an eyewitness account of the 1968 Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia, was hired as the Founding Editor-in-Chief. The original staff hired by Levy included former reporters and editors from a wide range of magazines and daily newspapers, including the ''Sacramento Bee'', ''Sacramento Union'', ''The New York Review of Books'', ''Business International'', the ''Grinnell Herald-Register'', ''Fortune'' magazine and the ''Tampa Tribune''.

Lion's Share Group established the wholly owned subsidiary company Prague Post s.r.o. in March 1994 to take over the publishing of the newspaper, while Lion's Share Group became a holding company.

Chronological history

1991

''The Prague Post'', located in a small room off Old Town Square in Prague, debuted with a 12-page issue on 1 October 1991. The first paper covered news and business, offered a weekly calendar of listings and included a regular pub guide.

In late 1991, the paper moved to larger offices on Politických vězňů, off Wenceslas Square, and increased to 16 pages.

1992
In February 1992, "Night & Day", a redesigned and enlarged cultural listings section, was introduced. A regular features page concentrating on in-depth news, culture and lifestyle articles debuted in early May 1992.

The paper underwent extensive redesign, increased to 24 pages, switched street delivery days from Tuesdays to Wednesdays and moved printing operations to Frankfurt, Germany, on 18 November 1992. This enabled it to offer color capability to advertisers, higher quality print resolution and more timely international distribution. Several new regular sections appeared at this time including sports, "The Big Picture", a page devoted to news from Central and Eastern European regions and "East View", a column of material from other English-language newspapers in Central and Eastern Europe.

Kent Hawryluk's day-to-day involvement with the newspaper ended in December 1992, and Lisa Frankenberg took over the responsibilities of publisher. An additional suite of rooms was added to the offices at Politických vězňů and the staff continued to expand, along with the company's investment in computers and publishing equipment.

1993
A monthly supplement devoted to special news coverage about Slovakia and entertainment listings for Bratislava was introduced in January, 1993, but was later curtailed as reporting became more difficult in Slovakia. In July 1993, "Summer in the City" was published as a tabloid insert for the remaining weeks of the summer. The tabloid included up-to-the-minute travel information for tourists, filling in where the guidebooks left off.

''The Prague Post'' launched special pullout sections on 1 September 1993: "Money & Markets," "Travel & Leisure" and "Real Estate." These sections, aimed at providing expert, specialized coverage, appeared on the first, second and third weeks of the month, respectively. The remaining week(s) of each month were filled with a series of special topics, including "Computers & Technology", "The Modern Office", "Human Resources" and "Fashion." The special sections have changed and evolved over the years in response to readers’ needs.

The newspaper moved into newly reconstructed offices in the historic YMCA building at Na Poříčí 12 on 1 December 1993.

1994
''The Prague Post'' underwent a significant redesign on January 19, 1994, transforming the second section into the tabloid-size pullout "Night & Day". This newly designed pullout consisted of articles detailing culture, features, listings, and a Prague Profile. It also introduced several new additions such as the Service Page, Ask Eva (an advice column), My Gene Pool (a cartoon strip) and reviews. The front section of the paper, consisting of news, business, sports and opinion also received a design improvement at this time.

Later in 1994, "Night & Day" increased in size to include the classifieds section. At this time, the business editorial department also began publishing weekly researched industry lists that are included in the annual Book of Lists.

1995
The 1995 ''Book of Lists'', under development throughout 1994, was published in early 1995. An updated version of the ''Book of Lists'' was published annually until 2000.

In 1995 the paper continued to grow in all areas as advertising revenue increased. The Prague Post began sponsoring two well-known events: the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival and the Valtice Arts Festival.

1996
''The Prague Post'' celebrated its 5th Anniversary on 28 September 1996, with a black-tie, gala evening at Národní Dům na Vinohradech, hosted by Publisher Lisa Frankenberg, and attended by over 1,000 guests with dignitaries, including five ambassadors, past and present employees and clients. This Gala event was a memorable evening, aptly marking a significant occasion in the life of the newspaper and its importance in the market. Lisa Frankenberg was accepted to Harvard Business School in Boston, and promoted Advertising Director Coleen Nelson to General Manager to take over the day-to-day operations of the newspaper.

''The Prague Post'' added sponsorship of the Prague International Marathon in the summer of 1996, and published a 12-page, four-color tabloid Holiday Shopping Guide for the month of December.

1997
In April 1997, ''The Prague Post'' was awarded first place for ‘Excellence in Newspaper Marketing’ by the International Newspaper Marketing Association for an in-house marketing campaign.

On 1 April 1997, ''The Prague Post'' launched its website at www.praguepost.cz (today it is
www.praguepost.com
). The initial site offered several top stories from the weekly newspaper as well as information for tourists and relocation information for people planning to move to Prague. It quickly gained a significant following, particularly with readers based outside the Czech Republic.

1998
In May, 1998, Lisa Frankenberg returned to Prague from Harvard Business School where she received an MBA (Masters in Business Administration) to resume an active role in the day-to-day operations of the newspaper as President and Publisher.

1999
The newspaper underwent another significant redesign near the end of 1999. Randy Stano, winner of two Pulitzer prizes for design, was recruited to undertake the process of re-designing the newspaper. ''The Prague Post'' was granted an Award of Excellence for re-design by the Society of News Design.

The offices of ''The Prague Post'' were relocated to a two-story office space at Štěpánská 20 in Prague 1.

2000
Since its strong debut, ''The Prague Post'' has attracted much international media coverage, with articles about the paper and its staff appearing in ''USA Today'', the ''Los Angeles Times'', ''The Washington Post'', ''The New York Times'', ''Smithsonian'', ''Fortune'', ''The Columbia Journalism Review'', ''Advertising Age'', ''The European'' and ''Telegraph'' of London. In addition, the newspaper was profiled on BBC
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