Czech TV crisis

On 24 December 2000, news programs on Czech Television were interrupted by Jana Bobošíková, a veteran presenter at the channel and the newly-appointed head of the news department, sitting next to Jiří Hodač, a former BBC employee who had been appointed general manager of Czech Television earlier on 20 December.

[1] During the Czech TV crisis, ČT reporters organized an industrial dispute by staging a sit-in and occupying the news studio,[2] and rejected attempts by Bobošíková to fire them.

They were supported in their protest by politicians such as the then President Václav Havel and by Czech celebrities, but every time they tried to air their news broadcasts, Jana Bobošíková and Jiří Hodač would interrupt the transmission either with a "technical fault" screen reading: "An unauthorized signal has entered this transmitter.

Following the "technical fault" screens and prevention of the news broadcasts by Bobošíková tens of thousands of people marched in the streets of Prague and other Czech cities and towns, calling for restoration of freedom of the press, demanding an end to what they perceived as censorship at ČT.

Jiří Janeček, one of the news anchors who occupied the studio in protest, was later elected Director General, a role he held until 2011.

Evening demonstration – front of TV building (December 2000)
The image reproduced here on a rare T-shirt displays a screenshot of a public message that appeared for a couple days on Czech Television's channels as its only programming during the height of the crisis. It translates to: General Manager of ČT Jiří Hodač has turned to the Council of the Czech Republic for Radio and Television Broadcasting with a request that it decide which programming of ČT is legal and authorized programming in accordance with the Act on Czech Television and which is not. Until the Council's decision, ČT will broadcast this statement as its programming.