Czech TV chief hangs on

The journalists have gained public support

Czech TV governors have defied a resolution approved by the country's parliament calling on them to sack the station's controversial new head, Jiri Hodac.

Mr Hodac's appointment sparked a protest by journalists which has gripped the nation for the last two weeks.

TV staff are still refusing to leave

MPs joined calls for Mr Hodac to resign over claims that he is politically biased.

But the TV station's board of governors did not even vote on whether to dismiss the new director-general.

The chairman of the board, Miroslav Mares, said it was unethical to make a decision when Mr Hodac, who has just been discharged from hospital after collapsing last week, was unable to defend himself.

Mass demo

Staff at Czech Television (CT) have defied Mr Hodac's authority, launching a sit-in at the studios and drawing tens of thousands of people to the streets of Prague to call for his dismissal.

They are preparing another mass demonstration for Thursday, the day before parliament meets in a second emergency session, at which it may dismiss the board of governors for not following its call to sack Mr Hodac.

The leadership of the ruling Social Democratic party, meeting at the same time as the board, indicated it would sanction this step.

The party had originally backed Mr Hodac, but has since backed down in the face of public opinion.

The controversial boss has vowed to fight on

Dismissing the governors will not solve the problem, however, says BBC correspondent Ray Furlong in the Czech capital.

Parliament would then be faced with the tricky job of appointing new governors.

Our correspondent says there is a sense that the crisis is still escalating, with talk of it even bringing down the government.

The council is an independent body, and has the sole power to appoint and dismiss the director-general.

It is dominated by appointees of the two main parties in parliament - the ruling Social Democrats and the Civic Democratic party (ODS) of former Prime Minister Vaclav Klaus.

CT staff say that Mr Hodac's appointment was made in order to advance the interests of the two parties.

However, a legal amendment which parliament plans to rush through in weeks would replace the current council with one whose members would be proposed by civic groups, not politicians.

Meanwhile public support for the striking journalists continues to remain strong.

On Sunday, several thousand people attended a concert called Music against Censorship in support of the strikers.