The controversial new director general of CT Czech public television, Jiri Hodac, must resign as demanded by journalists, Czech Deputy Prime Minister Pavel Rychetsky said in an interview published Saturday.
Rychetsky told the newspaper Pravo that Hodac "must resign because he is an obvious obstacle to the calming of the situation."
Journalists are occupying the Prague headquarters of the TV station in protest over Hodac's December 20 appointment, saying he has close ties to the right-wing opposition Civic Democratic Party (ODS) of former prime minister Vaclav Klaus.
They also allege that Hodac is incompetent and has failed to respect the division of responsibilities set out in both the state broadcaster's statutes and in legislation.
Some 1,200 journalists and staff have signed a petition calling for Hodac's resignation. Senior managers at the station joined the call on Friday, saying Hodac was causing "considerable financial losses" to the state-owned station.
Programming has been disrupted since Wednesday.
Rychetsky, who is also the Czech justice minister, ruled out police involvement in breaking the 10-day-old protest at the CT studios.
"If such a decision were taken, I would prefer to leave the government and I would not in any case give the order" for police intervention, Rychetsky told Pravo.
The minister added that the government should "search for ways to find a compromise solution and a calming of the situation" at the public TV station -- PRAGUE (AFP)
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