Analysis of Media Coverage of the Czech Republic and its Potential Impact on Perception of Czech Republic

This paper will analyze theoretical concept of country of origin as a brand and its influence on brand image of products originating from the country. It will deeper review the role of media in establishing the perception of country of origin in general and its potential use as a tool contributing to achievement of targeted image of a country. Primary research concentrated on monitoring of influential international media with the aim to identify events that have potential to influence perception of Czech Republic by foreign public. Within the scope of monitored media, we found out, that the most common topics in all of them related to Czech Republic covered sports followed by topics concerning politics and international affairs Media audit showed, that to positive impression about Czech republic contributed mostly articles covering success of Czech sportsmen and meeting of US and Russian presidents in Prague, while to negative mostly articles covering corruption and fraud scandals, some sports topics and visa and immigration policies. From these results arises, that PR coverage of Czech Republic in monitored media is not contributing to achievement of the targets defined within the scope of “Export strategy of Czech Republic for the period of 2006-2010” in section of “Building of a quality brand ČR in the world”, specifically “increase in positive awareness of Czech Republic and improvement of image of Czech Republic abroad (MPO, 2006)”.