Final Word from Thursday, March 27, 2014
Just as there are mini-godfathers in business (Rittig, Janoušek, etc.) who can't hold a candle to the real godfathers running the country, there are mini-moguls in the media who play second fiddle to the top dogs. The media actions of Daniel Křetínský/Martin Roman, Zdeněk Bakala and esp. Andrej Babiš have taken the spotlight off the likes of Jaromír Soukup of Empresa and František Savov of Mladá fronta. Before Babiš bought Mafra, some of the hottest media topics were Soukup's unprecedented conflicts of interest and the suspected VAT fraud at Savov's companies. Babiš's own conflicts of interest saved them from further scrutiny, but Soukup's removal of Vladimír Železný as CEO of TV Barrandov changes things. Železný was taking the right steps for turning Barrandov around. His removal raises the question of whether Soukup can make it as a media owner or whether he should have stuck to hawking advertising. [Czech Republic Ringier Economia]
Glossary of difficult words
mogul - an important or powerful person, esp. in the motion picture or media industry;
to be unable to hold a candle to - to be not nearly as good as;
to play second fiddle to - to play a subordinate role to someone;
top dog - a person who is successful or dominant in his or her field;
to hawk - to carry around and offer goods for sale.