His Excellency Vaclav Havel
President
Office of the President of the Czech Republic
Hrad
119 08 Prague 1
Czech Republic

Vienna, 9 January 2001

Your Excellency,

The International Press Institute (IPI) is most concerned about the politicised makeup of the Czech Television Council responsible for the recent appointment of the new Director General, Jiri Hodac, at Czech Public Television (CT), and the effects of that appointment upon editorial independence at the station.

Mr. Hodac was elected by the Czech Television Council – which is dominated by the ruling Social Democrats and their opposition ally, the Civic Democrats (ODS) – in competition against more than 30 other candidates in just two days. The candidates were only given four days to prepare their projects for the Council. Hodac’s appointment has led to concerns over political bias and sparked a staff strike that is still ongoing.

According to our sources, the lower house of the Czech Parliament will meet on 12 January to discuss a legal amendment replacing the Council with one whose members would be proposed by professional and civic groups, not by politicians. IPI strongly supports such a replacement, which would also bring CT in line with the 1993 Vienna Declaration on Public Broadcasting.

IPI, the global network of editors and media executives, regards the dominance over public broadcasting by political parties as a hazard for the independence and objectivity of such broadcasting. We therefore urge Your Excellency to ensure that the Czech Television Council is replaced as soon as possible by representatives of civil society. We further urge you to ensure that the journalists at CT are guaranteed editorial independence.

We thank you for your attention.

Yours sincerely,

Johann P. Fritz
Director