[Newspoetry] Czech TV situation - local petition/action?(fwd)

[Maiko Covington]

Hiya.

	I got this from a Czech friend of mine, recently PhD'ed in
physics. He's interested if people know what's going on with public
TV there, and is interested in perhaps sending something written over
there... I'll talk with him more tomorrow most likely!

	Maiko


---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Mon, 08 Jan 2001 19:04:11 -0600
From: Simon Kos <s-kos at uiuc.edu>
To: mcovingt at uiuc.edu
Subject: Czech TV

Hi Maiko,

so I did, indeed, manage to finish and submit the dissertation by the
deadline on Friday, but I still do not feel relief. Here is why: While I
was typing away, I was trying to focus only on the dissertation, but I
could not help watching with one eye what was going on in Prague. Have
you heard about the fight over Czech TV? Most people here have not,
because there has been almost no news coverage. So, in a nutshell: The
Czech public TV station is the most influential medium in the country,
something like BBC in the UK. This is because it is supposed to be a
service providing independent information to the public, free from both
economical and political influence. However, the two ruling parties have
been recently increasing pressure that the TV station broadcast what the
politicians want. Since the last elections two and half years ago, three
directors of the station have been fired, because the politicians did
not like what was being broadcast. The third one was fired very
recently--on December 12. Within a week (!), the board that appoints the
director supposedly managed to make a call for candidates, review 33
proposals, and elect the new director. This guy had run to become the
spokesperson of one of the two parties, but did not make it there, so
here was a job for him. At that point, though, the employees of the TV
station rose up, and refused to recognize him as the new director. He,
in turn, fired them all, but they refused to accept the dismissal, and
have been in a sit-in strike ever since December 20. They have received
a massive support from the public, who have been signing a petition, as
well as demonstrating (some 180 000 people have signed the petition,
about 80 000 turned up at a demonstration downtown Prague last
Wednesday, and the opinion polls show that 9 out of 10 people in the
country support them). Even the parliament as a whole has passed a
resolution calling on the new boss to resign or on the board to fire
him, because one of the two main parties is breaking down, but the other
one remains stubborn and has enough people on the board that appointed
him (and could also fire him) to block the dismissal. Details are, for
instance, on europe.cnn.com if you search for 'Czech'.

I have been feeling frustrated that I am not at home now and cannot go
to the demonstrations too, so I at least signed the petition, and used
the optional dedication page of the thesis to dedicate it to the
striking TV crew. Ever since I submitted, I have been telling people
around me about the situation back home, and most people were
interested, and have been asking me whether they could also sign
something in support of the journalists. The petition I have signed is
in Czech, and the way it is written appeals to people who live in the
Czech Republic and understand the situation there in detail. So rather
than translating the petition into English, we thought it would be
better to make a new one that would point out the general principles
that are at stake here--freedom of speech and freedom from the abuse of
power by politians. In today's small world with instantaneous
communication, either the defeat or the victory in one place can have a
large effect everywhere. It is great that people back home really care
at this point; if the strikers win, it will be a great encouragement for
everybody else in the same situation.

A few friends and I therefore thought that the best thing we can do here
is to put together an internet petition that would call for support of
the general values of freedom of speech and check on political power in
the specific case of the Czech public TV station. The strikers have
received support around Europe, but nothing from here, so I think it
could make a difference to them. Unfortunately, neither my friends nor I
can make web pages. It is one of the things that I do not know because I
have not yet needed to learn to do it (like driving). Now the time is
running out, the sooner such a petition is put together the better, so
rather than trying to learn quickly how to make an internet petition
myself, I was thinking of people who know how to do it and who are
likely to support the cause of the striking journalists, and you were
the first person who came to mind. 

Would you be willing to put that petition together with me? If not, do
you know who would? We should do something fast, because those poor
people in the TV station have been locked in there for over two weeks
now with their water and toilets cut off (they have to haul all supplies
including potty-houses through the window from supporters outside who
come to daily demonstrations), so who knows how much longer they can
last in these conditions.

Let me know.

Simon