Denik N sues Zeman over press ban

Deník N has filed a lawsuit against the Office of the President of the Republic for barring unfriendly media outlets from receiving information from the government since the end of May. In a statement on its website, the letter said that the presidency is an office like any other and cannot choose whether to carry out its duties and comply with the law. The spokesman of Prague Castle, Jiří Ovčáček, wrote to ČTK that the step of the daily “is not worth a single reaction”.

At the end of May, the CPR justified its decision to stop providing any information to certain media with the fight against disinformation. The measure concerns the weekly Respekt, the servers Seznam Zprávy and Deník N, and the programs of Czech Television 168 Hours and Reporters of the Czech Television. Chancellor Vratislav Mynář stated that some media are trying to “obtain information from CPR employees in a non-serious and non-standard way”. Representatives of the media concerned then rejected the Castle’s decision.

The daily N reported today that it had filed an administrative lawsuit against the office of President Miloš Zeman. “In our opinion, she acted illegally when she decided not to answer questions to selected media, including Diary N,” the statement said. It is the duty of every office to answer questions without discrimination to the media, the letter said. “Citizens have the right to be informed about the actions of the state and the media are here to control the state power,” he added.

Representatives of Deník N added that the role of the media is not to sue the authorities, but the CPR decision in May is so serious that an exception had to be made. “We are not only following the interest of Deník N in the lawsuit. We are convinced that the limits of what the authorities may and may not afford in relation to the media must be set by the court,” Deník N justified the lawsuit.