Interim Chief Wins End to Czech TV Strike

Czech television workers Saturday agreed to end their seven-week strike after Parliament chose an interim director who immediately ousted top managers whose political ties had touched off the protest.

Pledging to take a tough line, interim director Jiri Balvin ended disruption in the newsroom by dumping managers loyal to former chief Jiri Hodac. The action late Friday marked a final concession to the strikers, who had rejected Hodac’s appointment because of his perceived political ties and went on strike to win editorial independence.

“I hope the storm that hit television is over,” Balvin said. He added that he would begin appointing his management team Monday, saying he wants to make the state-owned station a “pearl” of broadcasting.

The appointment of Balvin, a 47-year-old art programs producer, marked the end of weeks of disarray at the Czech Republic’s major television station.

Soon after Hodac’s Dec. 20 appointment, journalists demanding editorial independence barricaded themselves in the newsroom, arguing that he was too closely tied to former Prime Minister Vaclav Klaus. Hodac denied the allegation.

News and entertainment programming was briefly interrupted as the crisis unfolded. Czechs took to the streets for massive protests to back the strikers.