Czech 'free speech' protest called

Hodac is facing increasing pressure to resign

A mass demonstration has been called in Prague against political interference in Czech Television, as a sit-in by striking television journalists goes into its third week.

A similar protest called in support of the journalists last week brought tens of thousands of people onto the streets.

Staff have been sitting in at the station since December 20

The journalists are demanding the resignation of their new director, Jiri Hodac, whose appointment, they say, is politically motivated.

The planned street protest comes on the eve of an emergency session of parliament, which will discuss ways of resolving the crisis.

Some estimates of the size of last week's protest put the crowd in Prague's Wenceslas Square at 100,000, which would have made it the largest public protest since mass demonstrations in the same square brought down the communist government in 1989, in the country's Velvet Revolution.

Petition

Correspondents say there is widespread popular support for the journalists' stand, and more than 120,000 people have signed a petition backing their protest.

Protesters insist Hodac must go

Czech President Vaclav Havel has also expressed support for the strikers, and the Brussels-based International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has given the strikers its full backing.

The broadcasters claim freedom of speech is at stake.

They allege that Mr Hodac has close ties to the centre-right former Prime Minister, Vaclav Klaus, and would seek to promote his party and its political views.

However, some analysts regard the dispute as a conventional clash between workers and management, which has little to do with media freedom.

Mr Hodac, a former BBC Czech Service journalist, denies that he would make the station into a mouthpiece for any party.

Black-out ended

The upper chamber of the Czech parliament, dominated by the centre-right opposition and independents, has called on Mr Hodac to resign.

On Wednesday, officials at Czech Television stopped blacking out news bulletins being produced by the protesting journalists.

The journalists welcomed the decision but insisted they would continue their protest until all their demands were met.