The demise of independent news

The Prague media scene is expecting an announcement any day now from Ringier Axel Springer about the sale of its Czech operations (Blesk, Reflex, etc.) to Andrej Babiš. If the sale transpires, it will be the second major consolidation on the media market in recent months, after Zdeněk Bakala's purchase of Centrum Holdings. When the dust settles (and antitrust approval is granted), four godfathers or mini-godfathers (Babiš, Bakala, Jaromír Soukup, František Savov) will control a huge swath of the market for news and advertising. If you believe the stories about how Petr Dvořák was appointed to run Czech TV, you might add Petr Kellner to the list. Of major news outlets, that would leave only TV Nova, TV Prima, Mafra, Právo and Czech Radio in what might generously be called "independent" territory. Journalists who don't want to go to bat for one of the oligarchs are quickly running out of options.