Pavla Holcová is an investigative journalist and founder of the Czech Centre for Investigative Journalism, an independent outlet that does cross-border investigations on organized crime and its impact on the Czech Republic (Czechia) and Slovakia.
Films that captured ‘the death of democracy’ headlined the 2022 Double Exposure documentary festival in the US. In a parallel symposium, investigative reporters and directors stressed the importance of visual storytelling to describe the current, global erosion of democratic freedoms, and shared tips on how to capture this mass theft of human rights.
A range of films released in 2022, which include documentaries and feature adaptations of landmark investigations, provide insight into the diligent and often dangerous work of investigative reporters.
Ján Kuciak was building a name for himself with his investigations on corruption when he was shot dead alongside his fiancée — the first targeted killing of a journalist in Slovakia’s modern history. A collective of reporters worked together to publish his final story, and then set up an investigative journalism center in his name.
International organized crime received little scrutiny in the Czech press until the Czech Centre for Investigative Journalism was founded in 2013. They work with media partners across the region on collaborative projects that have helped bring down senior officials and expose the activities of mafia bosses, including an investigation with Slovak reporter Ján Kuciak, who was killed in 2018. Ian Willoughby profiles the Czech nonprofit for GIJN.
Vsquare publishes longform investigative journalism stories in English on Central Eastern Europe, focusing on the Visegrád region that includes Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
It has been more than six months since the murder of Slovak journalist Jan Kuciak and his fiancée Martina Kusnirova. The Czech Centre for Investigative Journalism’s Pavla Holcova, who had been working with Kuciak on an investigation, lists several worrying ways that the police have botched the investigation of the couple’s murders.
As protests grip Slovakia in the wake of the murder of investigative journalist Ján Kuciak and harassment of his colleague Pavla Holcova, the Global Reporting Centre’s Peter W. Klein writes this open letter to the Prime Minister of Slovakia urging him to respect press freedom and the rights of Holcova and all the journalists who are doing their jobs.
The cold-blooded murder of Slovak investigative journalist Jan Kuciak was also a cold slap across the face of modern Europe. That the public watchdogs could be halted simply by a brutal act of violence seems to portend a further breakdown of European values. Is it possible to legislate better security? There could be.
The murder of Slovakian journalist Ján Kuciak and his fiancee, Martina Kušnírová, both 27, have sparked protests since the killings on February 25. On Friday, tens of thousands gathered at the Slovak National Uprising Square in Bratislava to demand the resignation of Prime Minister Robert Fico’s government and a thorough investigation of Kuciak’s death. Feature image by Tomáš Benedikovič.
