“When working with people, you have to reckon with the fact that some will not wish you success, and for such people that can mean their own great failure,” says René Kekely

René Kekely is a presenter, PR manager, producer, screenwriter, and manager of numerous artists and interesting projects. Among his biggest projects is his own talk show, Face to Face. Although he is a man of many professions, he describes himself as someone who does everything in such a way that he never has to be ashamed of himself. The projects he works on entertain him and fulfill him. He doesn't like boredom or dullness, and his life motto is that he likes to do things differently.

In the course of an extensive talk on the topic of “Communication”, we discussed how the exchange of views is important these days, yet at the same time increasingly demanding. The word itself is one of the most powerful tools we can use to please someone, hurt them, or even kill them. A word can thus be misused, not only in everyday communication but also in the media. And so we, as consumers, must be careful these days about what we read, and realize, as Mr Kekely says, that sometimes it's better not to know everything.

After the talk ended, I had the chance to spend more time with Mr Kekely and ask him a few questions. We talked about the Czech media, his beginnings in the media, and his own projects.

Mr Kekely has worked in the media for many years and does not regret entering the field. Quite the opposite — he is glad that through the media he can reach people and events he would not normally have access to. He enjoys working with people, which, in his words, is also very difficult, because you must not burn out and you have to reckon with the fact that no one will wish you success. So remaining a genuine person in society is truly demanding.

With Mr Kekely we also talked more generally about the Czech media and Czech journalists, and he responded to this topic as follows: “When I was starting out, we started from those small media outlets, small positions, in regional news. You went through regional television and gradually moved up and up. You have to build something for yourself. It's the same as when you start out in acting — when someone puts an inexperienced girl or an inexperienced boy who just wants to be an actor on a theatre stage. What are they going to do there? You need great talent, or you need to personally impress someone, but without that talent you'll be lost. It's all about experience.” The media are thus truly, as Mr Kekely says, “The Seventh Great Power”, and people sometimes trust the media all too much.

I was also interested in his professional life. I asked about his talk show Face to Face, to which Mr Kekely invites interesting people whom he aims to interview and learn as much as possible from. He is very successful at this. He attributes his guests' openness not only to the intimate studio setting and the style of his questions, but also to his approach to each person. He himself has great respect for all his guests and feels great humility toward them, because by coming to the studio they place their trust in him. He does admit, however, that he himself would not be able to answer all the questions he asks, because they are truly very intimate and private, and he always respects his guest.

Besides Face to Face, Mr Kekely also writes scripts for the Czech Television documentary series called 13th Chamber. Asked how he can tell that a particular person's personal story is interesting enough for him to decide to work on it, he answered that although it's always partly about the person's media profile and how interesting the story is, it's also about us, as viewers, being able to identify with the story and being inspired by it ourselves — that if someone was able to handle a difficult life situation, we can handle it too.

Mr Kekely leads a busy life, and so my last question could only be about relaxation. And although he says he never really knew how to rest, he came to realize that it is necessary. He likes to travel, read, spend time with his other half and his dog. But he relaxes best, as he admitted, in the evening in a hot bath, where he spends two to three hours. That's where his best ideas come to him.

Natálie Čížková III.A