Czech media fail in their public duty

Journalist Jiří Pehe believes the media in the Czech Republic is not fulfilling its obligation to create a higher political culture. In his blog at Aktualne.cz he writes: "The Czech media depict the political contest as a kind of sports event where you can bet on the outcome. And worse still, the media are themselves to blame for the strong polarisation that is the result of the ideological prejudices of many journalists and commentators. ... When they do happen to exercise their control function and reveal a case of corruption, for example, that they only do it to increase their circulation. ... It is the task of the media to pressure for the cultivation of the political conditions here. But there can be no hope of that before the elections in May. So they will be nothing more than an empty spectacle that only serves to further cement the deplorable conditions."

» full article (external link, Czech)
More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Audiovisual Media, » Print media, » Elections, » Czech Republic
All available articles from » Jiří Pehe

» To the complete press review of Friday, January 22, 2010