The Kmenta method

If you need a good political scandal at a sensitive time, who you gonna call? Jaroslav Kmenta, of course. Two of his recent victims were Michal Kraus, who lost his high-level position in ČSSD because of the cocoa-bean affair, and Farm Minister Jan Mládek, who was almost knocked out by an apartment scandal. The Kmenta method is simple: Police information is printed on the front page of MF Dnes, regardless of how reliable it is. Readers believe at least half of what they read, and the victim either goes down or gets the message that he had better start cooperating. Recent reports linking Jiří Paroubek to the death of František Mrázek and to fraud in the Prague flood-relief effort seem to be ODS's message to Paroubek that if he doesn't confirm the Topolánek cabinet, Kmenta will soon have more articles on Page One. It's a risky game, and Kmenta is bound to be the loser one day. [Czech Republic MFD scandalization smear campaign]