Respekt was founded soon after the fall of Communist party from power in 1989[1] by a group of samizdat journalists as one of the first independent magazines.

[4] In 2005, Respekt published details about business connection between Prime Minister Stanislav Gross' wife and a brothel owner, starting a scandal leading to downfall of Gross several months later; in 2008 it published an article alleging that Milan Kundera, when a student, denounced to the police a Czech spy for the West.

In 2006, Zdeněk Bakala obtained majority in Respekt and planned to eliminate the loss by making the journal more mainstream.

[8] Since Respekt regularly reports on its investigations into bribery scandals, criminal activity or government mishandling, legal action have been periodically taken against it – often by top level politicians.

In September 2007, the colored print format was replaced the black-white photos as the advertisement section was expanded.