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The section takes its name from a unique Brno phenomenon: every hour through the night, special night buses, known locally as the , depart from the city’s main railway station, taking most residents directly home, while a smaller number can reach their destination with one transfer. Photo: Brno Public Transport Company

Deník Referendum has launched Rozjezd, a long-planned journalism project — a section focused on Brno, with investigative reporting at its core. The name comes from a Brno institution, the “Rozjezd”: every hour through the night, all the city’s night buses leave the main railway station at once and fan out in every direction, taking most residents straight home, while the rest need just one transfer.

As a rule, Rozjezd will publish a major investigative story at least once a month. The section will also feature shorter articles on an ongoing basis, including news reports, commentaries and interviews. The project will also include public debates in Brno.

One of Rozjezd’s priorities will be the city’s pressing housing crisis, including how Brno manages its municipal housing. The newsroom will report new findings on major city investments, both planned and already under way. The section will pay particular attention to Brno’s rapidly deteriorating transport situation, as well as the city’s unsatisfactory approach to vulnerable groups. It will highlight outstanding individuals and examples of good practice worth following.

The section opened with an investigative article by reporter Anna Absolonová, who heads Rozjezd. Her report reveals that Petra Vítková, director of the Real Estate Company of the City of Brno, lives in a municipal apartment at a discounted rent — despite having bought three apartments of her own in recent years and renting them out.

Ahead of the official launch of “Rozjezd”, Deník Referendum published several articles over the summer. They are now collected on the section’s page. In the weeks before the launch, the newsroom published two articles and a podcast about the planned heat pipeline from the Dukovany nuclear power plant to Brno, the second-largest energy project currently in preparation in the Czech Republic.

The series on the Dukovany heat pipeline highlights failures by the outgoing city leadership, which has not transparently assessed either the investment’s impact on Brno households and businesses or alternative ways for the city to free itself from its dependence on natural gas. There is therefore a real risk that this poorly prepared and exceptionally costly investment will push up heating prices in the city.

The project is overseen by Zuzana Vlasatá, head of reporting and deputy editor-in-chief of Deník Referendum, who led its development. She said of the launch: “As in other cities of a similar size, both the volume and the quality of journalism in Brno are steadily declining. The newsrooms are based far away in Prague and have only a handful of journalists here. The quality of public administration in the city reflects this. As the only national newspaper based in Brno, we are therefore responding as a matter of course: with Rozjezd — investigative reporting focused on Brno. I believe we can guarantee the quality of our work. Those in positions of power here will once again face much closer scrutiny.”

The project receives financial support from the Endowment Fund for Independent Journalism. Readers can find Rozjezd (in Czech) by clicking “Brno” on the Deník Referendum homepage.