Final Word from Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Just as ODS's politicians have learned the rote line that the release of the wiretaps is a bigger threat to democracy than their contents, MFD's reporters have learned to recite ad nauseam that the uncovering of the wiretaps was the result of their long-term work. Don't look for a conspiracy, said the award-winning investigative reporter Jaroslav Kmenta in MFD today, calculate instead with the obsession of journalists. Nobody served up anything to us, he insisted. How are we to understand this exactly? That Kmenta did so many Seznam searches that the wiretaps popped up on his screen? Did he trip over them on his traipses to Prague city hall? Were the wiretaps imbedded in a microdot in the papers of a recently deceased spy? Let's not be ridiculous. The digital files were of course handed over to Kmenta with a very specific purpose in exchange for a strict promise not to reveal the source. Of course the public benefited from this, but the bottom line is that MFD was once again a mere tool in someone else's power play.[Czech Republic MF Dnes Mafra Roman Janoušek Pavel Bém]
Glossary of difficult words
BS - bullshit, nonsense; the title works better in Czech - Kmentovina;
rote - mechanical or habitual repetition of something to be learned;
ad nauseam - done or repeated so often as to become annoying or tiresome;
traipse - a tedious or tiring journey on foot;
bottom line - the underlying or ultimate outcome;
power play - tactics exhibiting or intended to increase a person's power or influence.