Czech press survey - October 3

The principle of the suspect´s "untouchability" until his/her conviction cannot be applied in politics. A politician must step down immediately if a relevant suspicion emerges and he/she can triumphantly return if the suspicion is refuted, Honzejk writes.

If Drabek does not understand this, he "has sunk to the underground floor of political culture," Honzejk adds.

True, Drabek does not face any accusations himself. However, if it has happened to a man with whom he has been personally and politically tied for many years, Drabek must draw responsibility and go, Honzejk says.

Corruption at the Labour and Social Affairs Ministry, with which NGOs supporting disabled people had to battle for money they urgently needed to keep afloat, is more condemnable than anywhere else, Honzejk writes.

Conservative Roman Joch was quite right when he wrote that the recent "attempted murder" of President Vaclav Klaus by an airsoft gun shooter was no attempted murder at all, but by his statement he "shot himself down" as Prime Minister Petr Necas´s adviser, Karel Skrabal writes in Mlada fronta Dnes.

He refers to a blog article in which Joch also indirectly labelled Klaus "a whining Kremlin-loving sissy" and over which he was immediately fired by Necas (Civic Democrats, ODS).

Joch was right in everything he wrote, but he must have known that the formulations he used could not be tolerated by Necas, who vitally needs Klaus´s support in a situation where his cabinet´s position in parliament is shaky, Skrabal writes.

The fact alone that Necas previously condemned the attack on Klaus as "a regrettable event," will definitely cause him troubles. However, he deserves it. He and the whole ODS have been "harvesting" - for a long time and under various governments - what they "planted" at Prague Castle themselves, Skrabal writes, alluding to the 2003 and 2008 presidential elections that Klaus, former ODS chairman, won as the ODS´s candidate.

By the way, Klaus´s aides have repeatedly uttered even more offensive words without being sacked by Klaus, Skrabal says.

He gives as an example the spreading of conspirative theories about the September 11, 2001 attack on the USA by Klaus´s office deputy head Petr Hajek who thereby offended the memory of the terrorist attack´s victims.

It is strange that the Czech media have paid so much attention to Pavel Vondrous, a 26-year-old welder who shot airsoft pellets at President Vaclav Klaus in Chrastava, north Bohemia, on Friday, Zbynek Petracek writes in Lidove noviny.

Vondrous is no Anders Breivik who would commit a mass murder out of frustration. Vondrous is probably a labile man who does not know how to cope with his life. Although his action did not claim lives or cause property damage, he still is a perpetrator who shot at the president. Why has he been massively sought by the media and interviewed? Petracek asks.

The answer is simple and quite expectable. Because the readers and viewers want it. No one can ban the media from interviewing Vondrous. Nevertheless, by doing so they are paving the path to his inappropriate glorification, Petracek writes.

Author: ČTK
www.ctk.cz