Štefan Hríb, the former presenter of the Pod Lampou talk show on the STV public channel, walked out of the studio as a guest on a live shoot on January 18 after accusing the station's current management of censorship.
Hríb had been scheduled to appear with new STV Director Radim Hreha and other guests to discuss the state of journalistic independence at the station. However, as the show began, he faulted STV management for not inviting two of the senior news staff that Hreha had fired since taking control last December, to take part.
Hríb said that without former news editor Roland Kyška and the head of the Reportéri investigative program, Eugen Korda, any debate on independence was meaningless, as he himself did not feel he was part of the dispute.
He added that Hreha was a liar, and that there was no freedom at STV. He then thanked his former colleagues on the show, and expressed the wish that STV not be run for long by a man who was more interested in the wishes of politicians than in the freedom of speech. He then stood and left the studio.
The week before, as the Pod Lampou presenter, Hríb invited Korda to appear and allowed him to criticize Hreha without the director being present. Hreha then accused Hríb of a lack of professionalism, and fired him.
- Tom Nicholson
