Czech TV Boss Hospitalized

Jan. 4 -- In the latest twist in a bitter two-week-old conflict over the independence of the press, the embattled director of Czech Television was rushed to the hospital today suffering from an undisclosed ailment, his adviser said.

The adviser, Pavel Bobosik, said Jiri Hodac was taken to the intensive care unit at Prague’s Motol Hospital after being treated by doctors at home. Hodac was reported to be in very serious condition, but no details were immediately available on his illness, Bobosik said.

Hodac’s ailment came a day after an estimated 100,000 Czechs took to the streets of Prague, packing Wenceslas Square in the largest protest seen since similar demonstrations swept away communism in the 1989 “Velvet Revolution.”

“Our generation has already caused the fall of one regime, and those in power should realize that they are there because of us, and are responsible for their behavior,” said Daniel Hulka, a pop singer and one of many artists and pop icons who spoke at the demonstration.

The crisis has been growing since December 20th when the staff of the state-run Czech Television took over their own newsroom in protest against the appointment of Jiri Hodac as new director. The appointment has developed into a political crisis with as-yet-unpredictable implications.

Dissident journalists refused to work with Hodac, and heresponded by firing the rest of management as well as someprominent journalists. The rebellious news staff refused to give in and have since been holed up in the newsroom trying to air their own news programming.

Some 1,700 Czech Television staff members are now backing the rebels, and about 130,000 other people have signed a petition demanding Hodac’s dismissal.

Political Appointment

Czech Television staff claim that the appointment was political. Hodac is seen as the right-hand man of Vaclav Klaus, the speaker of the Czech parliament and leader of the opposition Civic Democratic Party.