Prague - On Wednesday 9 March, Czech Finance Minister Miroslav Kalousek from the conservative TOP 09 called to the editor-in-chief of Mf Dnes, a Czech daily newspaper. Kalousek said to Robert Čásenský, the editor-in-chief, that he had a secret recording from a meeting of the heads of key Czech daily and weekly newspapers.
According to Čásenský, Kalousek threatened to release the recording in the public-service Czech Television.
Needless to say, Kalousek's allegation produced a shock among those who participated in the meeting, and in the Czech media in general.
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The meeting of the executive editors of Czech newspapers really took place - on Tuesday, 8 March, in Prague's seat of MF Dnes. The meeting was aimed at discussing the effect of the government's plan to increase the VAT to 18 or 20 percent on print newspapers and books. An open letter to Czech lawmakers was written at the meeting.
"April Fools! (Yes, I know it's March)"
On Thursday, 10 March, came a sudden twist in the already bizarre story: Kalousek said that there have never been any recordings. Everything was just a deliberate deception of his own creation.
"I had at my disposal some incomplete and unverified information that editors-in-chief of Czech dailies had met to coordinate a massive media campaign against the planned pension reform, above all against the unification of VAT rates, which would significantly influence the profit of their publishers. In order to verify this information, I took the liberty to use a rather obvious deception in a private call with the editor-in-chief of MF Dnes", Kalousek explained.
"This (Kalousek's mystification) is without doubt about discrediting the press and the discussion about the pension reform and VAT hike which will take place in it," said Dalibor Balšínek, the editor-in-chief of the Lidové Noviny daily.
Currently, the VAT for newspapers, magazines, and books is only 10 percent in the Czech Republic. The planned unification of the VAT rates on 18 or 20 percent would increase costs for Czech publishers - by approximately EUR 32 mil in total.
In 2009, the two largest Czech publishers, Mapfra and Ringier, reported sales EUR 112 and 91.6 mil, respectively.
CzechNews herby assures that this story is real, and there will be no update tomorrow explaining it was only "a rather obvious deception".
