Twelve years have passed since the takeover in 1989 which eliminated a rotten communist totalitarianism. On one hand, the period that has elapsed extends to half a generation, with the education and orientation of the new elite in full swing. However, 12 years also covers several legislative periods and puts us in a position to weigh the pros and cons of the first chapters of transformation. a range of phenomena that automatically occur in most comparable historical situations invites some diagnostic considerations. Our topic - media as a stage on which, basically, all public developments unravel, is a key to such diagnosis. This past year has seen the following significant events happen on the Czech media scene:

Attempts to gain control over Czech Television whose next chapter opened late last year with the election of General Director Jiří Hodač. The ensuing protest against ties between several new managers and the powers that be lacked a positive definition of the rebels' stance (i.e. concepts of "public service" and role of Czech TV journalists as champions of their customers' right to be informed). The movement's muscle slackened (something which even the power-hungry political elite must have banked on), yet hardly anybody admits today that legislative changes - only seemingly a success for the plausibly legitimate protest - have actually driven Czech TV into a stronger bondage. Individual control and audit powers follow a single hierarchical line and ultimately, it is always the politician (member of parliament) who has the last say. The number and licentiousness of political interventions has also increased - such as for broadcasting certain news stories and for providing explanations basically at any time, often for petty reasons. Conversely, nobody has outlined the areas with which politicians should not meddle. The crisis has ended, at least for the time being, by the recent election of Acting General Director Balvín for a six-year tenure. Vital measures (restructuring, savings) will be imposed under political pressure and in an atmosphere of continuing public distrust.

The new tabloid, Super, which is said, and not without reason, to be close to Parliament Speaker Václav Klaus, has ushered a new style where freedom as understood by its editors consists in crossing ethical barriers. Talk is about the informative value and newsworthiness of photographs from the private life of [Social Democrat politician, Mrs Petra] Buzková. However, debates about the admissibility of this type of journalism have not led to uniform opinions and there have even been differences in the male and female perception as though the right of a media-pursued politician was not a univeral one. In contrast, cartoons on the sexual prowess of Minister Březina were found to be foul play by the court although the story was based on his own statements to interviewers.

The dying-out of the regional press continued with a couple of new cases. Especially in Moravia, several dailies crashed, including Rovnost, a newspaper with more than a century-old tradition. The oft-criticised Pragocentrism further enhanced this trend. However, Literární noviny of 31 October carried a most unfortunate assessment of the development targeted by anti-German proponents. While in actual fact, this paper folded because of financial mismanagement (and lack of appeal for readers resenting certain styles of regional journalism), critics continue to blame only German capital (in singular) which is being viewed here as a monopoly although the two firms involved (Passauer Neue Presse and Rheinish-Bergische Verlagsanstalt) are bitter rivals. The critics speak about a "folder for commercials" as though it were possible to extricate the Czech regional press from the overriding trend in the economics of print media. The isolationism that lurks behind, together with concerted efforts to alert the public against the alleged German dominance, are shaky foundations on which to build a nation and attempts to foment intolerance cannot be vindicated - not even by the often inappropriate, insensitive and clearly profiteering behaviour of German investors. Criticism of the legislature, the root cause of such phenomena, is seldom heard. Legislators have never really examined the possibility of apportioning market slots to individual entities - German and other - as this would run afoul of the rigid ideology of unlimited market freedoms which "will settle everything".

Of late vintage is the intention of most members of the government to sue the weekly Respekt for saying they support corrupt atmosphere in the country. The ministers felt offended by the summary assessment offered by [Editor-in-Chief] Petr Holub. The government, of course, is a collective organ which votes on its action and dissenting members resign ( [former Finance Minister] Mertlík). Truthful to its own resolutions in the government programme, this cabinet has really lost its battle with corruption, although it admittedly consists of members who have not enriched themselves. But this doesn't absolve them from co-responsibility. The intention to destroy a critical medium has been announced in public and this calls for the strongest possible response from all those who realise the danger of politically-influenced media. The message should be more often pressed home that such cases do not end at Czech courts but at the International Court of Justice in Strasbourg. The government's reaction can hardly be taken at face value. When Mrs. Buzková's privacy was violated, the offended ministers never raised criticism. It is safe to assume that the latest noises are rather designed to cover up activities of a different hue.

Surreptitiously, the legislative line on the media is straightening up. The law on Czech Radio, now in the pipeline, is to be adjusted to the law on Czech Television. The problematic features of the latter have been discussed. The Czech Republic is not systematic enough about its duty to monitor legislative developments and their implications though it is its obligation towards the Council of Europe. Repeated enquiries in Strasbourg have proved the outputs from the relevant ministry as sketchy at best. Former Deputy Prime Minister Egon Lánský caused a few eyebrows to raise by sending a draft legislation to the European Commission in Brussels. Virtually all political parties ignore the commitments ensuing from the membership of the Council of Europe and the OSCE (although these international accords do not violate the oft-cited sovereignty).

Protection of the economic competition as codified in the WTO and EU rules on an international legislative level is, for the time being, the only mechanism with a sufficient (and at least partially government-respected) sanction background also in the media sphere. Hence its impact on the media scene where the Czech Republic lost arbitration to Ronald Lauder, whom a decision by the licensing commission had expelled from the game as investor in private TV Nova. However, the Prime Minister has been heard belittling and rejecting the verdict in his public speeches, citing insufficient security of foreign investment. In this connection, let me talk about non-transparent negotiations betraying efforts to privatise yet another TV channel in a way that again defies public control. The past few days have seen police action to prove property movements concerning Nova's boss Vladimír Železný. He is a poor man today, surrounded by wealthy partners - and is getting away with it. Yet it cannot be ruled out that the police activity was inspired by the corridors of power as Prime Minister Miloš Zeman wished to wear a clean jacket during his talks to attract U.S. investment.

What measures would help the politically-threatened media scene? The Czech Republic needs a closer involvement in the European and global context. Enforcement of valid principles, commitments to international organisations, should be brought into focus. Political indecency which tendentiously emphasises alleged European-integration threats to the sovereignty of the state, must be exposed publicly, for it can be proved that the main protagonists of this "sovereignty" ignore the sovereignty of the citizen and are driven by the urge to cling to power for as long as possible. Be it privatisation or the frameworking of media activities, these power ambitions are both apparent and dangerous not only to the media and journalists but also to those who depend on the media in their right to be informed - namely, the citizens.

Is there a formula for the press? Suffice it to examine the Spanish transformation, where confident journalists rejected the demands imposed on them by the new regime of Felipe Gonzáles who, like the press, had been in opposition against the Franco regime once. Mr Gonzáles had found himself in the same position as the Czech politicians and had labelled journalist "gusanos goebbelianos" (Goebbels worms). Journalists across the political spectrum had rallied together in the publication called "Contra el poder" (Against the Power). Exposed by the media, culprits close to the government circles had landed in jail, and within one generation of the death of Francisco Franco, Felipe Gonzáles' political career had ended as well. Journalists duly nicknamed his style of government as "Felipism". The Czech transformation will reach the first post-totalitarian generation break around the year 2008.