Wednesday, July 4, 2001

Monitoring of radio stirs a lively debate Media watchdog studies Radio 6 after bias scored By James Pitkin The decision of a media watchdog body to monitor a Czech radio station with strong U.S. ties is raising concerns on both sides of the Atlantic. The country's Radio and Television Broadcasting Council observed Czech Radio 6 for four weeks in May and June to determine whether the station was airing biased coverage and political commentary. Czech law requires "balanced" reporting in public radio and television, with fair and equal coverage of major political parties and factions. The council, which insisted its action was routine, said it was responding to listener complaints. The results of the study should be available in the fall. Radio 6 obtains most of its programming from Radio Svobodna Evropa (RSE), a nonprofit U.S. company funded by the U.S. Congress through Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL). "Try telling U.S. congressmen that such a thing is going on," said Pavel Pechacek, president of RSE and editor-in-chief of Czech Radio 6. "They can understand monitoring for racism or pornography. But for political content? They cannot comprehend this." On a recent visit to Prague, U.S. House Speaker Denny Hastert of Illinois expressed concern over the monitoring in a meeting with former Prime Minister Vaclav Klaus. After meeting with Hastert and other congressmen to discuss the issue, Thomas Dine, president of RFE/RL, said that attacks on RSE could cause a rift in relations between Washington and Prague. "There are consequences to this kind of situation," he said. "This could become a real negative in Czech-U.S. relations. I don't want that to happen." Pechacek suggested that many in the country, even 12 years after communism, are uncomfortable with open debate. "[The station] simply does not belong to anybody," he said. "And that's the problem. In the Czech Republic, too many people feel that if you don't support their views all the time, you are their enemy." The monitoring is part of an ongoing investigation into the station's political content by the council -- a 13-member body that grants broadcasting licenses, shapes state media policy, distributes frequencies and assures adherence to the law. "The purpose [of the monitoring] is to find out whether there is a preference for a certain political direction, party or power," said Petr Stepanek, an active member of the Civic Democratic Party (ODS) and deputy chairman of the council. "This is a routine procedure." But Arnost Wagner, a member of the council for almost two years, said the incident marked the first time he'd heard of the body monitoring a public station for its political views -- especially one that carries mostly foreign-produced reports, such as those broadcast by the BBC or RSE. "This is an absolutely unprecedented case," he said. Wagner has made repeated calls for the current council to be disbanded, arguing that its members are too biased to remain effective. The council isn't the only government body to monitor the station in recent months. The Czech Radio Board commissioned media specialists from Prague's Charles University to track public radio transmissions during last winter's strike at state-run Czech Television. During the crisis, striking journalists occupied the newsroom at Czech Television headquarters for six weeks in December and January, protesting perceived political influence at the station by new management affiliated with the ODS. A report produced by the radio board largely exonerated RSE, saying that it "fulfilled ... the demands of the law," while also stating that the station did show a "certain preference for the protesters' perspective." But Petr Pleva, an ODS member who sits on the media commission, blasted RSE at a press conference in Brno on June 19, claiming that it favored the center-right Quad Coalition and those close to President Vaclav Havel, who largely supported the strikers. Pechacek declined to answer Pleva's charge. "I refuse to enter into polemics with him. The report was, in my view, extremely positive," Pechacek said. "Any politician would find reason to criticize us at one time or another, because our views are independent." -- Martina Sedlakova contributed to this report. James Pitkin's e-mail address is jpitkin@praguepost.cz