Social Democrat leader relaxes media boycott

Social Democrat leader Jiří Paroubek has relaxed his media boycott saying that he will resume contract with a series of daily newspapers but will still not speak to two weeklies. Mr. Paroubek announced his pre-election boycott of the dailies Lidové noviny, Hospodářské noviny and Dnes together with the weeklies Respekt and Reflex a week and a half ago. He blamed them for stirring up hate against the party following an assault on top Social Democrat Bohuslav Sobotka. An interview with Lidové noviny run on Monday signalled a change in his stance towards newspapers, although Mr. Paroubek added that he would continue to monitor their coverage. But he said he would continue to shun and refuse to answer questions from the weeklies.