Press Review

Two domestic stories share the limelight on today's front pages - they are the dismissal of TV NOVA boss Vladimir Zelezny and the continuing search for a blackmailer who has threatened to poison hospital food with cyanide unless he receives 300 million crowns.

"Zelezny sacked" and " Zelezny's era is over" read the lead headlines on Thursday's front pages, adding "this time it's for real" in reference to the fact that attempts to get rid of the controversial media mogul have repeatedly failed in the past.

There is no sympathy whatsoever for Zelezny in today's editorial columns. The decision of Nova's shareholders is perfectly understandable, says Mlada Fronta Dnes. Better a TV station without a boss than a TV station without a broadcasting license, the paper notes. Zelezny had it coming and he has only himself to blame, echoes Lidove Noviny.

There is growing concern over the unresolved case of the blackmailer who has threatened to poison hospital food with cyanide unless he receives 300 million crowns. Thursday's deadline for the monetary transaction has expired and the police have little to show for a week's work - says Lidove Noviny which has expressed amazement that the case is not being handled by special units of the BIS, the country's intelligence service.

The blackmailer may be a madman but he might also be a dangerous terrorist

and until proved otherwise this should be treated as a case of terrorism, the paper argues. Intelligence services around the world are focussing on the fight against terrorism, but not the Czech BIS. Our own intelligence service is too busy dealing with right and left wing extremism and secret data protection, jeers Lidove Noviny.

Security precautions in Prague's Bulovka hospital, photo: CTK

Meanwhile, there is a lot of controversial information in the papers about the state of alert at Czech hospitals where tight security measures are in now place. Lidove Noviny reports on numerous strict measures effected to protect patients, but Pravo claims that practically anyone can get into a hospital canteen, and its editor apparently wandered into one undeterred, just to prove that it could be done.

Even more unnerving are the articles explaining in detail precisely how one dies of cyanide poisoning. The birth clinic where one of the vials containing cyanide was found is in shock, says Lidove Noviny. The strain is considerable and people are very worried, says Mlada Fronta Dnes.

Doctors and nurses are allegedly letting off steam by cracking jokes about the situation, telling Lidove Noviny's reporter they were off to enjoy a lunch of "dumplings with cyanide" in the hospital canteen. If we stopped to think about the danger we couldn't do our work properly -so we just have to trust that we are being protected adequately, a head nurse told the paper.

And finally, on a lighter topic, Mlada Fronta Dnes reports that Czech husbands don't do much housework. A survey has confirmed the fact that in most Czech families there is still a traditional "division of labour" and most of the household chores are left to the wife. The paper suggests that women have only themselves to blame because most newly-wed wives simply accept this role without question.