Why would Lidové noviny compromise its editorial independence by taking sides in the battle between two such prolific commercial disputants?




Last week on this page, I addressed an open letter to Dalibor Balšínek, the editor-in-chief of Lidové noviny. The letter dealt with the newspaper's coverage of the commercial dispute between ČEZ and Czech Coal, and asked Mr Balšínek to explain why it is that David Tramba, the newspaper's business editor, appears to be so prejudiced in favour of ČEZ in this dispute, at least in his most recent cover story on the subject.

I noted that Lidové noviny is not owned by a local business interest, which might be expected to exert editorial pressure on the editor-in-chief. Lidové noviny is owned by MAFRA, which is majority owned by a traditional and rather small North German publisher founded in 1946 with no interest whatsoever in the outcome of the dispute between ČEZ and Czech Coal.

I have yet to receive a reply from Mr Balšínek. So I repeat the pertinent question:

Why would an established broadsheet compromise its editorial independence on such a high profile battle between two commercial disputants?

One explanation might be Mr Balšínek himself, who, as well as being the editor-in-chief of Lidové noviny, is its general director. In addition, Mr Balšínek sits on the board of MAFRA, which owns the newspaper he edits. This might mean that Mr Balšínek is a shareholder in MAFRA. It might mean that his remuneration is linked to the profitability of the media group as a whole.

I assume that ČEZ is a significant source of advertising revenue for MAFRA, which owns not only Lidové noviny but many other local print and broadcast media, including the most widely read broadsheet in the country, MF DNES. I imagine that losing the revenue from ČEZ would be quite some loss for the group.

The way to avoid conflicts between the two worthy goals of protecting editorial independence and making money is to keep editors well away from the commercial side of the newspaper. I wonder how Mr. Balšínek's editorial colleagues, such as his business editor, feel about the potential conflict faced by their boss in his role of editor-in-chief of Lidové noviny, his role of general director of Lidové noviny, and his role of board member of MAFRA. And I wonder how Mr. Balšínek's resolves this potential conflict.

Is it possible that occasions arise when Mr. Balšínek's resolves the conflict in favour of financial gain, both his own and that of the media group he represents? And is it possible that David Tramba's biased coverage of the commercial dispute between ČEZ and Czech Coal in November is an example of just such an occasion?