Press Review
One of the leading Czech dailies, MLADA FRONTA DNES celebrates its tenth anniversary and Temelin nuclear power station: to be or not to be, those are the main issues in today's Czech papers. Olga Szantova joins me with today's Press Review.
MLADA FRONTA DNES's first issue appeared on the stands on September 1st, 1990. Today's copy follows developments throughout those ten years, and publishes photographs and front pages reporting on the main events throughout the decade that changed life so completely in this post-communist society. It also publishes many of its readers' answers to the question of what the paper means and has meant for them. Members of the older generation go back much further than those past ten years. MLADA FRONTA DNES, started off as just MLADA FRONTA, the youth front, before the word dnes, today, was added those ten years ago. And as MLADA FRONTA, the paper was the very first voice of liberated Czechoslovakia, with its first issue published during the May 1945 Prague uprising. Quite in keeping with its traditions, the paper reports on the latest events in the Olovo Affair, the affair of the slanderous document against Petra Buzkova, the deputy chairperson of the lower house of Parliament which MLADA FRONTA DNES published in May. The paper now quotes the results of a poll organized by an independent public opinion institution which found that only one in seven Czechs asked believe Premier Zeman's allegation that the paper fabricated the document in the first place, while six out of ten consider the prime minister's claims impossible.
Austria's negative attitude towards the launching of Temelin, the nuclear power station in southern Bohemia, is one of the main issues in all today's papers. LIDOVE NOVINY's commentator warns against ignoring the Austrian demands. It's easy to say that it's none of their business what happens on Czech territory, and to refuse to discuss the issue, but good neighborly relations are too important to be ignored, says the paper's commentator.
The daily PRAVO takes a detailed look at the background of the Czech-Austrian dispute over Temelin. Is the nuclear power station only a handy excuse for Austria? the paper's headline asks. It points to Austria's problems in the European Union. Now Austria has a chance to show its strength, if it won't have its way with Temelin, it will block the Czech Republic's EU membership, the paper points out.
The date, September 1st, is a source of interest for most dailies. Traditionally, school starts on the first of September. In this case, it being Friday, children have an additional three days off. One and a half million pupils and students will be starting school on Monday, the daily CESKE SLOVO states. Of the 200,000 teachers already busy with preparations for them, the vast majority are women. How they will teach, how the traditional school system will change in accordance with contemporary needs, was discussed at a national conference which has just ended in Brno. It's program, the paper states, showed how deeply interested teachers are in improving the whole system of education.
And talking about the end of summer, ZEMSKE NOVINY reports that the famous Czech hockey player Jaromir Jagr is on a strict diet before returning to Pittsburgh on September 6th. He has put on 10 kilograms during his summer at home.
