The Czech Council for Radio and Television Broadcasting published a warning statement regarding TV Nova's programme "Ask the Director", broadcast on 6th May, 1997. In the statement, the Council emphatically warns the licence holder that the the programme "Ask the Director" is unbalanced and that there is a serious danger that the broadcasting licence might be taken away. The warning has obviously made an impact on Vladimir Zelezny, but not in the sense the Council had intended.
The legal advisers of TV Nova (in fact of CNTS. s.r.o. which operates TV Nova on behalf of CET 21, the licence holder) are said to have found a useful loophole in the law. Apparently, a current affairs programme - indeed, any programme - does not need to respect the provisions of the Law on Radio and TV Broadcasting.
"If you say 'this programme expresses the views of TV Nova', you free yourself from the obligation to provide impartial and balanced information", said Vladimir Zelezny in the 172nd edition of "Ask the Director".
If we took this to extremes, it would be possible to use this formula before Nova TV's main evening news, and so Nova would not be dutibound to provide objective and impartial coverage. Well, sometimes its news broadcasts create this impression anyway.
However, the CNTS legal advisers have forgotten one thing: there is a difference between the electronic media and other types of media. Radio and television broadcasting is governed by a stricter law. This imposes stricter conditions on broadcasters than on newspaper publishers. The reason is technological: there is a limited number of broadcasting frequencies. Anyone can publish a newspaper, if the market can absorb it. However, terrestrial nationwide broadcasting is limited only to three channels in the Czech Republic. If you want to publish a newspaper, it is enough for you to have money and to register yourself. In order to operate a nationwide terrestrial TV station, you must be given a TV licence (the next TV licence will not be issued until 2006!)
So, under the protective cloak of the above-mentioned magic formula, Zelezny keeps making demagogical and mendacious statements: he rails against the parliament's decision to raise the licence fee for public service TV in line with inflation. By doing that, Zelezny says, Czech public service TV has been given the right to compete with commercial broadcasters using the taxpayer's money. This, he complains, makes it difficult for TV Nova to operate.