Press Review

One of the numerous articles in Wednesday's dailies on the war against Iraq concerns, as the headline puts it, how Defence Minister Jaroslav Tvrdik is "selling" the war. Parts of his daily meetings with the press, says MLADA FRONTA DNES, resemble a carefully planned show.

On Tuesday for instance Minister Tvrdik presented reporters with three mannequins in anti-chemical masks and clothing, and appeared in front of a big screen showing footage from the front-line in Iraq, and Czech soldiers training. His style wins praise from the editor of the magazine Marketing & Media, who says Mr Tvrdik can explain complex issues in an easily comprehensible manner.

PRAVO's "topic of the day" is how the Czech Republic's school teachers are explaining the war in Iraq to their pupils. Some teachers respond openly to children's questions, while others prefer to avoid the issue because they believe schools should be apolitical.

The minister of education, Petra Buzkova, says teachers have not been issued with any instructions as to how to respond to questions about the war, and recommends that teachers themselves decide based on their knowledge of their students. And if the war does come up, teachers should act as moderators and keep the discussion objective, Minister Buzkova tells the daily.

The position of the governing Social Democrats on the war has become something of a thorny issue since one of the party's senators, Richard Falbr, called for a resolution at this weekend's party conference condemning what he calls "American aggression". Mr Falbr says if the party is really socialist it should take a stance against the US-led war.

In a front page interview in PRAVO, party leader Vladimir Spidla refuses to be drawn on the matter. In characteristic style the prime minister manages to avoid saying anything concrete on the subject, which is sure to be an interesting side issue at the Social Democrat congress. The main issue, however, will be Mr Spidla's own authority within the party.

MLADA FRONTA DNES carries an interview with film director Jan Hrebejk about his new film Pupendo, which is about a Czech family in the 1980s. For Pupendo Mr Hrebejk has again called on the talents of two of the greatest comic actors in the country, Bolek Polivka and Jaroslav Dusek. LIDOVE NOVINY meanwhile says Pupendo, which opens on Thursday, is even better than the second-last Jan Hrebejk film Pelisky, or Cosy Dens. If that's true film fans are in for a real treat.

And finally Spring is here and Prague Castle is gearing up for the start of its tourist season on April 1, reports the Prague section of MLADA FRONTA DNES. Officials say they are not planning to raise prices and promise a new attraction: later in the year a permanent exhibition on the history of the castle should open, and will include colourful details of some of Hradcany's most famous murders.