Final Word from Monday, September 26, 2016

More than 60 leading Czech journalists have a conflict of interest in the dispute between Terezie Kaslová and Miloš Zeman regarding the honor of her late grandfather, journalist Ferdinand Peroutka. A total of 68 individual journalists have been awarded the Ferdinand Peroutka Prize, and all but a few are still active. If Peroutka came to be seen widely as being a Nazi sympathizer or anti-Semite, two of the issues at stake in the dispute, the value of their award would be diminished. Yet rarely do these journalists announce their conflict of interest when defending Peroutka. Bohumil Pečinka, a laureate from 1998, told ČT on Fri. that the judge made an unacceptable mistake by not considering Peroutka's comments in the context of the time. It's a valid point worthy of discussion, just as is the question of whether many of these same Czech journalists today aren't also conforming to the time on many issues, even though there is no Hitler breathing down their neck. [Czech Republic Castle Czech Television TV Reflex]