ODS’s statutes establish the party as one of “capable, enterprising and self-confident citizens who are able to take responsibility for themselves, their families, their communities and their country” and whose members will “actively contribute to the creation of private property and a free market in goods, labor and ideas.” Yet Culture Min. Martin Baxa of ODS has de- cided that public media – Czech TV and Czech Radio – are “the key guardian of democracy” and uses this paternalistic point of view to justify raising the VAT on newspapers from 10% to 21%. GM René Zavoral of Czech Radio acknowledged as part of the station’s 100th anniversary that it is serving democracy now but served dictatorships and evil for 50 years. The ODS-led government, according to Baxa, now wants to strengthen the position of public media and to increase their “resistance to political pressure.” Which also means that if they ever start serving evil again, they will be all that much more resistant to democratic pressure.

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