Final Word from Monday, March 20, 2017

The Czech political and media scenes are so divided that it's easy to make a list of the politicians, media outlets, journalists and analysts who are on one or the other side of the thick red line that divides supporters and opponents of Andrej Babiš. This often leads to a pigeonholing even of those who don't fit firmly into either category. Take Babiš himself, for example. He's clearly "pro-Babiš" when it comes to defending his own interests, and he uses effective arguments. For example, an objective observer would conclude that he is probably right when he tells Právo that an organized effort exists to bring him down and that some journalists have turned into anti-Babiš activists. Yet Babiš is also sometimes "anti-Babiš," because he reveals things that make his own situation worse. The latest example came when he told his former newspaper MFD that the tax authority is conducting a complete audit of Agrofert. In an effort to help Babiš, he hurt Babiš by apparently violating the confidentiality rules of the tax code. Sometimes it seems that Babiš is secretly working for Miroslav Kalousek. [Czech Republic Mladá fronta Dnes vow of silence]