Tomáš P. Klvaňa‘s experience spans journalism, government service and academia. Recently, he served as the spokesman and policy adviser to the president of the Czech Republic, Vaclav Klaus (March-September 2003). Before joining the government, Klvaňa worked as the deputy editor-in-chief of Hospodarske noviny, a leading Czech daily newspaper affiliated with the Wall Street Journal and Handelsblatt, where he was in charge of international coverage and international cooperation. In 2000–01, Klvaňa was a senior international affairs commentator for another leading Czech daily paper, Mlada fronta Dnes. He covered major international events such as the U.S. presidential elections in 2000 and the G-8 Summit 2001 in Genoa, Italy. From 2000 to 2003, Klvaňa was a frequent guest analyst of international news for Czech Television and Czech Radio. From 2001 to 2003, Klvaňa taught a semester-length course on Media, Culture and Globalization at the New York University Center in Prague. Between 1997 and 2000, he was a visiting professor of journalism at the University of Southern Maine in Portland. He holds a Ph.D. in speech-communication from the University of Minnesota and an M.A. in journalism from Charles University in Prague. Mr. Klvaňa will focus on the interplay of politics, media and civic society in the Czech Republic. His paper will investigate how these forces influence the quality of the emerged democracy in a post-communist country in a period of transition.
