Final Word from Monday, July 3, 2006
Pavel Zuna is one of the best-known Czechs that foreigners have never heard of. He's been TV Nova's favorite anchorman, and he's been the brain behind several of its popular shows. He's had limited crossover appeal, though, because all his recent work has been in Czech. He left TV Nova with a bang, which will tend to increase his popularity among Czechs. He came to the attention of a few foreigners only because he used press interviews to criticize new cost-cutting measures at the station. He stayed when Vladimír Železný stole the station from Ronald Lauder but left when the returned foreign owner tried to get it into shape. Zuna might be right - perhaps he knows more about running a TV station than the owner's representatives. But that's irrelevant. His exit from TV Nova has been a casebook study of how not to behave if he ever wants to work for an international company again.[Czech Republic CME CETV Central European Media Enterprises television]