Tongue-tied at MFD

A few days before he is to be replaced on Mon. as editor-in- chief of MF Dnes, Pavel Šafr wrote an article about Israel. It was a bit of a cooling-down after his fiery essay on Jiří Paroubek and the Communists ("Paroubek, or Freedom"). That article was rumored to be the reason for his departure, but insiders say Šafr probably started the rumors himself. A more fundamental reason for his dismissal, they say, was his lack of a foreign language. He has to communicate with the German owners of MFD through an interpreter. This makes daily interaction (as well as special projects such as a face-lift with a Swiss designer) very difficult. It also limits the sources available for an article on Israel. The head of a major Czech newspaper or company probably can't do his job properly without being able to turn on CNN, the BBC, ARD or RFI for a world update. Five years ago, perhaps, but not today. [Czech Republic Germany Radio France International French Mafra]