Prague: The Past, The Press and Prognosis

I've been eternally bummed that I never made it to Prague when I visited Europe in 1996. Back then, it was the new place to stop on the backpacker circuit. I missed out, and now read about how many folks are so over Prague and its throngs of tourists and English teachers.

Sooooo, Prague is popular — that might turn some backpackers away, but not me. I'll be heading there next year, and will have to see for myself what popularity has done to Prague. Until then, I'll study up on the Prague that was, and start by digging into the mini-archive of Prognosis, the first non-communist English-language newspaper in Prague. Members of the ambitious team that founded the newspaper in 1991 included Matt Welch,Ben Sullivan, Laura Pitter, Chris Scheer, Jenny Ogar and Vladan Sir. Prognosis was "...an alternative newspaper that track[ed] the Czech Republic's traumatic transition from communism to capitalism." (SF Examiner, 1993). It attrracted attention as a respected publication, but as Welch said in the post-mortem salute (it died in 1995), "...the oldest owner was 24, everyone was drunk, and no one within vomiting distance of the place ever had a clue about running a business." The American journalists who visitied Prague back then were criticized by Welch for writing about the YAPs (Young Americans in Prague) instead of focusing on the city itself and the changes it was experiencing.

There are unfortunately links to only a few Prognosis articles on Welch's site, but they're worth browsing to get an idea of what was going on in Prague 10-15 years ago. For more, read Think Magazine's Let the Kazoo's Sound: A Decade of English Language Press in Prague. The best way to learn about any place before visiting is to read the local papers, so for Prague, check out these two English language pubs: Prague Post and The Prague Tribune.

[Thanks Amy!]

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