Deník N's fake scoop

Aside from what could be interpreted as more pre-presidential posturing, Supreme State Prosecutor Pavel Zeman's appearance before TV cameras yesterday produced two important pieces of news. First, that no decision has been made in the Stork's Next case. And second, that the leak to Deník N of information to the contrary should be examined by the Prague state prosecutor. What Zeman avoided addressing is why the leaked information was in fact false. Deník N reported that Prosecutor Jaroslav Šaroch had "halted the prosecution of PM Andrej Babiš," which Zeman yesterday refuted. Deník N is a private media entity and, as in the Seznam TV case involving Andrej Babiš Jr., might have commercial reasons for its actions. This does not and cannot apply to the public media. Czech TV and Czech Radio continued to cite Deník N's "scoop" long after it had become clear that it was false. Much of the confusion this week was in fact caused by the public media.