Press Review
The election of a well known news anchor to the post of general director of Czech public television is splashed across every single front page today - overshadowing the Prime Minister's visit to the United States as well as the President's talks in France.
"Former rebel elected director" reads the top headline in Lidove Noviny. "Insider wins" echoes Mlada Fronta Dnes. What can we expect of him - is the question that all commentators are asking.
Jiri Janecek himself has said he would like to make the face of Czech public TV younger and wake the station up. "The station is 50 years old and I don't want it to be an old lady who sits by the fire and knits socks, I want it to become a young dynamo that dances on the table" Janecek told Lidove Noviny.
The paper however tends to be sceptical, noting that Mr. Janecek will have to make some painful reforms - including a lay-off of employees. As an insider it will be difficult for him to do that, the paper points out. Mlada Fronta Dnes agrees that, despite Mr. Janecek's good intensions, a major overhaul is unlikely. Pravo also describes Mr. Janecek as a man of "great goodwill, sometimes overly inclined to compromise".
In any case, it will be good if the station finally stops self-obsessing and drawing the public into its problems, Mlada Fronta Dnes notes. The new director keeps talking about better motivation and career opportunities for employees but what the audience wants to know is what it can expect of programming, the paper points out. Another interesting story on the front page of Mlada Fronta Dnes is the sale of a vast amount of army property. On a slashed budget, the army is having to close down many of its bases and construction firms are gearing up for what the paper calls "the sale of the century", comparable only to the privatization process in the early 90s. While the small towns from which the army is pulling out are likely to be damaged by the loss of jobs and slower business, big cities like Prague, Brno or Olomouc have a lot to gain - the often unsightly army barracks will soon be replaced by luxury hotels, shopping centres and new parks.
Pravo reports that a court in Cheb, West Bohemia, has given a man who threatened to poison drinking water in the Czech Republic a thirteen month suspended sentence. In addition the court banned him from drinking alcohol for three years, as he reportedly had a couple of beers before making the threatening phone calls to the Interior Ministry and Czech television. As an epileptic the man is not supposed to drink any alcoholic beverages.
French born actress Chantal Poullain, who has settled permanently in the Czech Republic, has also made front pages - in connection with a road accident which she caused. The actress failed to give right of way on a ring road and the resulting collision seriously injured two people. Today's Mlada Fronta Dnes claims that the police now suspect Mrs. Poullain being on drugs at the time.
According to the paper, the police confiscated some white powder hidden in a walking stick in her car and are waiting for the results of an analysis as well as those of the actresses' blood sample. Chantal Poullain has denied the story saying there was no white powder in her car and that she had caused the accident though inattention, for which she was truly sorry.
