Prague, Jan 20 (CTK) – Czech Interior Minister Milan Chovanec (Social Democrats, CSSD) has accused Finance Minister Andrej Babis (ANO) of using the media he owns, particularly dailies Mlada fronta Dnes (MfD) and Lidove noviny (LN), in the election struggle, daily Pravo writes yesterday.
The Czech Republic will hold regional and Senate elections this autumn, a general election next year and the presidential election in early 2018.
Chovanec reacted to an article MfD carried on Tuesday. It claimed that Chovanec wants to restrict Internet freedom, which Chovanec sharply dismissed, Pravo writes.
“I resolutely deny the text of the frontpage article in yesterday’s (Tuesday) issue of daily Mlada fronta Dnes that is part of the Agrofert Group [owned by Babis]. It is an intentional propaganda manipulation of my statements and those by representatives from the Interior Ministry,” Chovanec wrote.
Chovanec wrote that the article contains false claims and tries to expediently make the impression that he wants to apply the practices of totalitarian countries, Pravo writes.
“It is either a gross journalistic and editorial mistake, or a targeted discrediting of representatives of the political competitors of the owner of the publishing house,” Chovanec wrote.
The MfD article is based on Chovanec´s recent statement that a debate on Internet protection should be held.
“If I said now that I want any Internet user to be identified, I would be attacked by everyone. However, in my view, the time has come for a debate on progressing in this direction,” Chovanec told LN in early January.
He was reacting to the hacking of Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka’s (CSSD) e-mail.
Neither Chovanec nor the ministry have as yet said how the identification should be secured, Pravo writes.
Pravo quotes Chovanec as saying if the MAFRA publishing house, which also publishes MfD, wants to keep the reputation of an independent publisher, it should apologise for its Tuesday article.
“In the opposite case, it can be said that an election campaign has been launched and that all thinkable means, including the abusing of one-time independent media, will be used during it,” Chovanec wrote.
Babis has dismissed the allegation. He said he has not yet received the monitoring of his papers and that he does not know what it all is about, Pravo writes.
“I have explained to Chovanec several times that our movement does not apply the Bisons system and that I do not influence my media,” Babis wrote to Pravo.
Bison and Rose is a PR agency owned by Milos Ruzicka who cooperates with Chovanec, Pravo writes.
Sobotka told Pravo that he does not think that the clash will threaten the operation of the government coalition, which also includes the junior Christian Democrats (KDU-CSL).
“The fact that Andrej Babis owns newspapers changes nothing in that we have agreed on forming a [government] coalition and we are fulfilling our pledges we gave to the citizens,” Sobotka said.
He wrote, however, that no one is capable of preventing the chairman of ANO, who owns newspapers and a radio, from influencing their content. This does not help free competition of political parties, Sobotka added.
ms/t/pv
