The management has taken a swipe at the CT reporters. The new head of Czech Television, Jan Souček, stressed in several interviews after his arrival that he would keep an eye on the Czech Television Reporters programme. As it seems, this is now actually happening. A few days ago, editor Ondřej Stratilík was dismissed from the programme. The reason for this was allegedly his trip to Sweden for a report, when the travel and accommodation for the public journalist was paid for by the Swedish Arms Association.
Stratilík was told by his superiors on 9 November that he should immediately stop all the reports he had distributed to CT reporters.
Wollner said it was most important for CT not to advertise the company in question. "We set that as a condition of the trip in advance, that we would not mention any of their products in any way. We told ourselves that we were going to make a political, military-political travelogue in a region that closely borders Russia across the sea."
At the same time, he stressed that the reportage is morally absolutely unquestionable. "There is nothing to question about the reportage. The problem is that Mr. Stratilík started doing a report on Mr. Strnad some time ago. Mr Strnad undoubtedly contacted the management of Czech Television, so the management of the television station did not delay, started looking for a year-old report and Mr Stratilík was, how shall I put it, well, fired from Reporters and offered a completely undignified job."
He had never experienced anything like that in his life. "That would have to get almost all the journalists in this country fired. At the same time, I would say quite a large number of journalists at Czech Television as well, because you just fly on different trips. From my point of view, this is a purposeful thing that the TV management pulls out against an inconvenient programme in order to sort of put a stop to it again, or to intimidate it, and unfortunately it succeeds."
The TV management does not want to comment publicly on the case. At a Council meeting on 15 November, Councillor Roman Bradáč mentioned the reporter's trip to Sweden. He described it as a case that could significantly worsen the reputation of Czech Television.
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Firing an editor who acted with the approval of his superiors is an alibi with which the new Czech Television management covers its immoral and even criminal practices. What was specifically "objectionable" about the report is of course not disclosed. They have nothing to do with the function of the publicly owned CT. CT's management does not run public television, but is controlled by the power structures behind the scenes. What do the citizens who pay for this (not) service have to say about it!
JŠ
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