Toeing the line

Even before the Russian elections came under scrutiny, Vladimir Putin was getting five minutes of very flattering coverage every evening on state-owned Russian TV. It was enough to make someone like Václav Klaus wonder how he did it. Czech Television has never fawned on Klaus like that. Perhaps he'll get a break from MFD, at least. It has sacked commentator Jan Macháček, one of Klaus' biggest critics. Macháček was too much of a loose cannon. Meanwhile, IT Minister Vladimír Mlynář (once a colleague of Macháček's) told F1 radio that he regrets some of the things he wrote as a journalist. He hurt many people, he said, and judged them unfairly. Klaus once called him a swine after reading one of his Respekt articles. Mlynář is now doing business with some of the people he used to condemn. Where you stand, as the saying goes, depends on where you sit. MF Dnes Frekvence 1