Final Word from Wednesday, June 18, 2014
If a former editor-in-chief of Der Spiegel declared publicly that the current editor-in-chief of Süddeutsche Zeitung had been in the pocket for more than a decade of one of Germany's richest men, it would cause a huge scandal. When former Editor-in-chief Pavel Šafr of Reflex made such a comment last week in Respekt about Editor-in-chief Sabina Slonková of MFD and Andrej Babiš, it was met with near silence (except on social networks). Granted, Reflex is not Der Spiegel, and MFD is not SZ, but this deserves serious attention. Either Šafr (by making the accusation) or Slonková (by serving Babiš) has committed a major moral and professional lapse. It is not enough, as is the tendency, to write Šafr off as a madman. If the Syndicate of Journalists and the editorial council at MFD do not see fit to address something of such fundamental importance for the credibility of the Czech media, one must wonder why the bodies exist. [Czech Republic Mafra Syndikát novinářů redakční rada]
Glossary of difficult words
to be in someone's pocket - to be under the complete control of someone;
granted - admittedly; it is true;
lapse - failure, error, mistake;
to see fit to do something - to consider it correct or acceptable to do something.