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From: Transitions Online <[log in to unmask]>
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Sent: Tuesday, April 17, 2001 10:14 PM
Subject: New at TOL


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> Transitions Online - Intelligent Eastern Europe
>
> New at TOL: Monday, 17. April 2001
> --------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
> - - - INTERACTIVE DISCUSSION: Hear the latest about the NTV takeover - - -
>
> Transitions Online, in association with Washingtonpost.com, presents a
live
> online discussion on the Russian NTV crisis with media specialist and TOL
advisory
> board member Alexei Pankin. Join us on Wednesday 18 April at 11 a.m.
Eastern Daylight
> Time, 5 p.m. Central European Time.
> http://discuss.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/zforum/01/world_pankin041801.htm
>
> . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
>
>
> --- OUR TAKE: A Man Of His Time ---
>
> Even the big boys, like the Czech Republic's media mogul Zelezny, have to
fall
> sometime.
>
http://www.tol.cz/look/TOLnew/article.tpl?IdLanguage=1&IdPublication=4&NrIss
ue=21&NrSection=16&NrArticle=744
>
> . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
>
> - - - TOL MESSAGE - - -
>
> Be sure to visit our new mediakit. We reach 27 000 people with this
newsletter
> every week. Your future business partners, customers and readers are
probably
> among them. No one reaches the region like TOL - visit our mediakit for
more
> information: http://archive.tol.cz/mediakit/index.html, or e-mail us at
> [log in to unmask]
>
> . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
>
> --- TOL WEEK IN REVIEW ---
>
> Neither the Time Nor the Place
> Disco near former Auschwitz death camp in Poland told to pull the plug.
> by Wojtek Kosc
> http://www.tol.cz/week.html
>
> The News According to Gazprom
> The authorities and the state-run gas giant attack two more Media-MOST
outlets as
> Russia's war over independent media nears the point of no return.
> by Sophia Kornienko and Maria Antonenko
> http://www.tol.cz/week.html
>
> On the Road Again
> EU removes visa requirement for Bulgarian tourists to visit most countries
within the
> alliance.
> by Konstantin Vulkov
> http://www.tol.cz/week.html
>
> Successor States Strike Gold Deal
> The countries of the former Yugoslavia reach agreement on splitting up
Yugoslav
> gold and currency.
> by Ales Gaube
> http://www.tol.cz/week.html
>
> Shake-Ups and Shake-Downs
> Czech government faces mounting problems in the wake of the resignation of
a
> well-known minister.
> by Petra Breyerova
> http://www.tol.cz/week.html
>
> MORE WEEK IN REVIEW
> http://www.tol.cz/week.html
>
> Georgia's South Ossetia Holds Illegal Referendum
> Macedonia Signs Stability Agreement With EU
> Students Demand Kuchma's Ouster, Support PM
> Tajik Minister's Murder Points to Drug-Route Conflict
> Djindjic Makes The Right Noises in Vojvodina
>
> - - - PARTNER ANNOUNCEMENT - - -
>
> Johnson's Russia List (JRL) is read by thousands of Russia-watchers around
the
> world. JRL carries news and analysis about contemporary Russia from both
Russian
> and Western sources. It is edited by David Johnson. Johnson also puts out
the CDI
> Russia Weekly which is more focused on foreign policy and security issues.
There is
> no subscription fee for these newsletters.
>
> Subscribe to either or both publications by sending your email address
> to [log in to unmask]
>
> . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
>
> --- MACEDONIA SPECIAL REPORT: Not Out of the Woods Yet ---
>
> The Hostile Other
> With Milosevic behind bars, who can Macedonia blame?
> Opinion by Dejan Jovic
>
http://www.tol.cz/look/TOLnew/article.tpl?IdLanguage=1&IdPublication=4&NrIss
ue=21&NrSection=1&NrArticle=724
>
> Easily Led
> Now that the violence in Macedonia has died down, the international
community
> should realize that the real problem still lies in Kosovo.
> Opinion by Saso Ordanoski
>
http://www.tol.cz/look/TOLnew/article.tpl?IdLanguage=1&IdPublication=4&NrIss
ue=21&NrSection=1&NrArticle=722
>
> Coming Apart at the Seams
> A failure of citizens to identify with and commit to the Macedonian state
jeopardizes
> long-term stability.
> Overview by Jeff S. Merritt
>
http://www.tol.cz/look/TOLnew/article.tpl?IdLanguage=1&IdPublication=4&NrIss
ue=21&NrSection=1&NrArticle=723
>
> Tipping the Scales
> Western reporting of the fighting in Macedonia is more likely to inflame
than inform.
> Opinion by Eran Fraenkel
>
http://www.tol.cz/look/TOLnew/article.tpl?IdLanguage=1&IdPublication=4&NrIss
ue=21&NrSection=1&NrArticle=721
>
> . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
>
> --- IN THEIR OWN WORDS ---
>
> Not Going Quietly
> Still on the run, Bosnian Serb indicted war criminal, Radovan Karadzic,
grants a rare
> interview.
>
http://www.tol.cz/look/TOLnew/article.tpl?IdLanguage=1&IdPublication=4&NrIss
ue=21&NrSection=7&NrArticle=736
>
> . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
>
> --- ANNUAL REPORTS 2000 ---
>
> The Old-New Poland
> A year of revisiting previous politics and historical problems.
> by Krzysztof Jasiewicz and Agnieszka Jasiewicz-Betkiewicz
> http://archive.tol.cz/frartic/polar00.html
>
> Slovakia Pushes Forward with Reforms
> It's not as troubled a country as it would have the world believe.
> by Sharon Fisher
> http://archive.tol.cz/frartic/svkar00.html
>
> . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
>
> --- FEATURES ---
>
> Buddha Arises
> Tajikistan soon to unveil a 1,600-year-old giant, sleeping Buddha that
> the Soviets tried to hide. A TOL partner post from EurasiaNet
(www.eurasianet.org).
> by Ahmed Rashid
>
http://www.tol.cz/look/TOLnew/article.tpl?IdLanguage=1&IdPublication=4&NrIss
ue=21&NrSection=2&NrArticle=720
>
> . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
>
>
> - - - TOL PARTNERS - - -
>
> - Oneworld.net (http://www.oneworld.net) Working through a network of
hundreds
> of organizations spread throughout the world, Oneworld aims to be the
online media
> gateway that most effectively informs a global audience about human rights
and
> sustainable development.
>
> - Prague Watchdog (http://www.watchdog.cz) Prague Watchdog monitors
> current events in Chechnya with a special focus on human rights abuses,
> media access and coverage, and the humanitarian and political situation.
>
> . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
>
> --- OUR TAKE: A Man Of His Time ---
>
> Even the big boys, like the Czech Republic's media mogul Zelezny, have to
fall
> sometime.
>
> "Will the boss of Nova soon be wearing prison stripes?" blared the
front-page
> headline of the Czech tabloid Blesk on 12 April. Hard as it was to
believe, Vladimir
> Zelezny, the country's media mogul supreme--the Central European Rupert
Murdoch--had been
> charged with credit fraud and tax evasion.
>
> To Czechs, the sight of the police hauling off a haggard Zelezny for
questioning
> was something even more unfathomable than a prominent minister's
downfall--even though,
> as TOL has reported, the authorities have recently rounded up nearly a
dozen well-known
> businessmen and charged them with financial crimes. This was a man on top
of the world,
> the smoothest of the smooth who had even beaten the American investors who
tried several
> years ago to fire him and take "his" television station away (an
international arbitration
> court recently ruled, however, that Zelezny owes the U.S. company $27
million).
>
> For years--through changing political constellations--people had viewed
Zelezny as
> virtually untouchable, with friends in high places that would never hang
him out to dry.
> Politicians were hesitant to mess with Zelezny's success for fear that a
run-in with the
> director might translate into negative coverage on Nova--the most popular
TV station by
> leaps and bounds. Many even saw Zelezny as the third pillar of the
opposition agreement,
> propping up the power-sharing deal between the ruling Social Democrats and
opposition Civic
> Democrats of former Prime Minister Vaclav Klaus.
>
> It's not that people thought Zelezny was clean--far from it. Without even
waiting for the
> case to go to court, many have already pronounced the multi-millionaire
guilty, believing
> that anyone who enriched himself in the 1990s had to have done it
illegally. A continuing
> legacy of those years is that a sizable chunk of the populace still
believes that their
> better-off neighbors earned their riches by dubious means. Under
communism, Czechs had prided
> themselves on mischievously working around the rules of the regime; now
they despair that many
> of their fellow citizens adjusted such skills to capitalism all too well.
>
> Nova was but another example of profiting from the holes in the system
that appeared in
> privatization and tax collection. In a situation that parallels the entire
post-1989 transformation
> of Czech society, the legal framework provided too many loopholes and
ineffective regulations.
> In a span of two-and-a-half years, under pressure from various lobbying
groups--including
> cable companies--the parliamentary media commission relaxed broadcasting
restrictions. That
> included removing all 31 conditions that had regulated Nova. Commission
members viewed television
> broadcasting as only another business: no special rules required.
>
> Part of the feeling that Zelezny is now getting his just desserts comes
from those,
> especially in media and intellectual circles, who blame the man for, in
essence, destroying
> the Czech nation with crass commercialism. They lament how housewives sit
mesmerized in front
> of dopey Latin American soap operas, how gruesome murders and car
accidents lead the nightly news,
> and how their children spend summer evenings watching trashy action flicks
instead of playing
> games outside--all, they allege, contributing to society's overall
degradation. And they usually
> chide Zelezny, not the media commission that took a laissez-faire
approach, for letting it happen.
> In part, this hand-wringing over Nova represents a nostalgic yearning for
the better aspects
> of life under communism, when "family values" supposedly took precedence
over the destructive
> influence of commercialization (read: Americanization) and capitalism.
>
> The bitterness toward Zelezny, which has blinded some to Nova's
plusses--competition for staid
> public TV, for one, as well as some fine investigative programs--also
stems from the belief that
> Zelezny was a complex man living in complicated times who could have done
better. He was, after all,
> an art collector and classical music buff with a doctorate in social
science. And in 1968,
> during the Warsaw Pact invasion, ordered by the Soviets to quash the
country's experiment in
> "socialism with a human face," Zelezny was one of several Czechoslovak
television employees who
> continued to broadcast shots of the tanks rumbling through Prague's
streets. He was fired two years
> later, in a period when communist hardliners were cleaning house of people
associated in any way
> with reform. Until the Velvet Revolution, Zelezny's television
contributions were limited to
> screenplays written under a pseudonym. After 1989, he served as a
spokesman for Civic Forum and
> then the government before successfully joining with a group of
intellectuals to apply for the license
> for the first nation-wide private television station.
>
> Such criticisms have only irritated Zelezny. He interprets Nova's
promotion of mass culture as a
> healthy development that knocked the snobs from their self-appointed roles
as saviors and determiners
> of national culture. "Suddenly, Czechs proved that they are normal
Europeans and not so vulnerable
> to the efforts of Czech intellectuals," he once said in an interview. "I
hate the idea that Czechs
> are not mature enough and that they must be treated like a very special
species that needs a careful
> transformation period to teach them the basics before they feel the impact
of bloody capitalism."
>
> Zelezny also then scoffed at the need for license restrictions. "In a
small, fragile emerging
> market in a post-communist country, any regulation is an additional burden
to the many burdens that
> are already present in the country."
>
> Whether or not he is judged guilty, the charges against Zelezny have shown
the era of little
> regulation and even littler attention from the financial police is perhaps
finally coming
> to a close--even for the big boys.
>
>
> -- Transitions Online - Intelligent Eastern Europe
>
> Copyright: Transitions Online 2001
>
>
>