The 30-year-old is unhappy with Czech politicians who, in his view, are "incapable of respecting the basic principles of the relationship between a politician and journalist." The political parties have been trying to blackmail and manipulate Česká televize by canceling participation in TV debates at the last minute and expressing displeasure with the proposed discussion topics.

This, of course, is nothing new on the Czech political scene, and credit must go to Moravec for actually highlighting the problem. There is evidence that politicians have been putting this kind of pressure on television stations here for years. Seven years ago, in May 1998, American researcher Andrew Stroehlein testified in Britské listy that this kind of blackmail was common practice. "Politicians are too used to having their way with interviewers, and they don't feel they should be tested and challenged. When we invite a politician to the studio, that person's spokesman asks who will be the interviewer and, according to that, they decide whether they will come or not."

At that time, Stroehlein announced that henceforth he would publish the names of politicians who refused to take part in TV debates and for what reason on the Internet. "The citizens should know whether one of their elected officials is a pathetic, cowardly, unimpressive, undemocratic weakling who repeatedly refuses to talk to knowledgeable members of the media on difficult subjects."

Unfortunately, the 1998 attempt to bring Česká televize into the modern age failed miserably. Shortly after Stroehlein's announcement, Ivan Kytka, head of news and current affairs at Česká televize and the man who had brought Stroeh-lein to Prague to help him modernize the station, was forced to resign. Stroehlein's demotion and subsequent resignation followed soon after. Perhaps not surprisingly, the Internet pages detailing the blackmail directed at Česká televize were never created. It is not surprising either that the same problem persists to this very day.

I know from my conversations with Moravec that he was deeply unhappy with the low standards of Czech political culture and found it almost impossible to conduct his television interviews. He considered resigning several times before. Among other things, the age difference is a serious problem. The main representatives of the Czech political parties are around 50; most television political interviewers are about 30. It is very difficult for these young men to control the old party political manipulators who condescendingly feel they could be their fathers and, so, the interviewers carry almost no authority with them. Martin Veselovský of TV Nova has a very similar problem. Often, politicians just say what they want on his program, totally disregarding the interviewer.

However, I feel it was a mistake for Moravec to run away from a battle like this. Surely this is what the politicians wanted all along, and by leaving, Moravec has fulfilled their deepest wishes. In the interests of improving Czech political culture as well as the deplorable state of the Czech media, he should have stayed and fought on. Maybe he could have revived Stroehlein's as yet untried remedy and published the details of political blackmail on the Internet or by other means. One should never give up in a fight for ideals.

Originally published in Czech Business Weekly HERE