Domain of anonymous "journalist" Pauknera previously belonged to a man featured in the Babiš recording

The anonymous profile of Tomáš Pauknera, which publishes material on alleged scandals surrounding Czech opposition parties, recently moved from Facebook to its own website, Deník P. According to the Czech domain registry administrator CZ.NIC, the site's current owner is listed as Helena Křesinová, head of the PR agency Salt&Pepper.

However, the international registry Whoxy shows that before her, the domain was registered to Marek Přibil — a former journalist for Mladá fronta Dnes. He is the very person heard on a recording published in 2017 by the anonymous group Julius Šuman, which captured a conversation between Přibil and then-Finance Minister, now Prime Minister, Andrej Babiš (ANO). The two discussed the timing of publishing political material targeting opponents of the ANO movement in the media — a recording that later triggered a wave of protest resignations among journalists at the Mafra publishing house, which at the time was owned by Babiš himself through the Agrofert holding.

According to Whoxy, the Deník P domain belonged to Přibil from August 18 of this year — the very day Pauknera's website was registered. CZ.NIC's public administrator does not list Přibil among the domain's previous owners, but the service does not display earlier records.

Journalists managed to reach Přibil, but he declined to comment on the situation: "I don't comment on anything at all," he said, ending the call before any further questions could be asked. Přibil currently owns a creative agency, Přibil Production, one of whose specialties is building and designing websites. The reaction from Salt&Pepper agency is still being sought.

Praise from government officials

Pauknera's articles, which focus on the opposition movement STAN and arms entrepreneur Michal Strnad, are regularly praised on podcasts and at press conferences by members of the ruling coalition. They have been cited, among others, by Prime Minister Andrej Babiš, Foreign Minister Petr Macinka (Motoristé), and Industry and Trade Minister Karel Havlíček (ANO).

On the podcast Sorry jako in late July, Havlíček criticized traditional media for "not digging deep at all," while praising the anonymous profile run by the PR agency as an author capable of dissecting every sentence and thoroughly backing up claims with sources.

One of Pauknera's articles was shared in an ANO party group by Interior Minister Lubomír Metnar (ANO): "Yes, I shared it in one of the ANO movement's groups, because I'm interested in anything related to the ministry," he explained previously. MP Jindřich Rajchl (SPD), in a June Facebook post, called Pauknera a "rising megastar" of journalism, while MP Denis Doksanský (ANO) refers to the anonymous profile as an "investigative portal." Pauknera's material has also been shared by MP Marie Pošarová (SPD).

Although some politicians describe Pauknera as a journalist, his methods differ sharply from standard editorial practice — to this day, it remains unclear exactly who is behind the profile and under what conditions the articles are produced.

In early August, the initiative "Gift for Putin" and the company Helicopter Alliance took action against the anonymous profile, filing a police report over false accusations: Pauknera had claimed that a Black Hawk helicopter, purchased for Ukraine by the "Gift for Putin" initiative, allegedly never reached its destination at all. The organization called this a lie and decided to pursue legal action in response.

It previously emerged that even before Salt&Pepper Agency, Pauknera's profile on the blogging platform Médium.cz (owned by Seznam.cz) was run by David Melín, who currently has eleven enforcement proceedings against him worth hundreds of thousands of crowns. Helena Křesinová confirmed that she had bought the profile from Melín, calling it a standard transaction, but when asked who writes the texts under the pseudonym, she said she couldn't recall.

Around Prague, based on reporting by seznamzpravy.cz