KateGate and its big winner
The election campaign was so boring until Kateřina Zemanová's acting talents were revealed this week in a skin flick shot last year as part of a "porno party." Most of the serious media shied away from the topic, but not TV Barrandov, which ran it last night as its lead. Barrandov seems to be slightly biased toward Andrej Babiš in the campaign and against Miloš Zeman, but there is a question as to whether "KateGate" will benefit or harm anyone in the elections. Tomáš Baldýnský raised the possibility in LN that it is actually a sophisticated move by Zeman's own party, SPOZ, to win the youth vote. Editor-in-chief Pavel Novotný of Extra.cz, the tabloid site that broke the story, admitted to Barrandov that he sat on the video for two months while "making sure" it was Zeman's daughter. Kate insists it isn't, and her denial might rub off slightly on SPOZ, which is also known for being flexible with the truth. If there's a big winner, it's Novotný of Extra.cz. With the exquisite timing of the release, he'll keep the political analysts debating his motives for weeks.
Glossary of difficult words
skin flick - a pornographic film;to shy away from something - to have misgivings about, to hang back from;
lead (story) - the first story in a report in a newspaper;
to break a story - to be the first to report an event;
to sit on something - to fail to deal with something; to withhold something until a later time;
to rub off on - to be transferred by contact or association;
exquisite - superb, excellent; extremely beautiful and, typically, delicate.