Analysis: Czech station TV Nova broadcasts untruths again in effort to defame Romani people

In the Czech Republic, TV Nova is sadly infamous for having long conducted an anti-Romani campaign. The most recent example of this is not the first time the private broadcaster has overdone it on this issue. However, this time the station not only made itself look ridiculous (which it often does when reporting on this topic), it opened itself up to eventual criminal prosecution for defaming and disseminating hatred against a group, specifically, against Romani people.

On 20 April, TV Nova broadcast a report by Ivan Berka about an assault allegedly committed against a young girl in Liberec. That reporting included the following:

“This is the first time Romani people have assaulted a young girl in Liberec. Two held her down, while a third used a knife or razor to slice her clothing… they demanded cash and food from her… the girl was injured and her family does not want to comment on the case. She received various cuts to her throat and her upper and lower limbs.”

Berka linked the Liberec case to that of another victim (aged 15) whom he says was assaulted by Romani people in Šluknov. He showed a clip of one of the defendants in that case, said to be named Tomáš Dzyry, who neither looked like nor spoke like a Romani person. The broadcast then cut back to the studio, where the moderator asked a suggestive question of the Mayor of Šluknov, basically feeding her the line that there will definitely be more unrest in Šluknov district as a result of this incident.

However, police in Liberec have already shelved the case of the 15-year-old girl described in the TV Nova report. The girl confessed to officers that she cut herself and then fabricated a story of having been assaulted.

“There were never three perpetrators and there was no robbery. The girl harmed herself and then made up the robbery story. She took this desperate action in response to the situation in her own family,” police spokesperson Vlasta Suchánková said.

The girl claimed to police that three men assaulted her last Thursday before 8 AM near the textile school on Na Bídě street. She said they wanted food and money, but because she had neither on her, they dragged her into a nearby apartment building and searched her. They then used a razor to slice her all over her body before fleeing.

Emergency medical services responded to the girl. “She had cuts on her arms, legs and throat. They were superficial injuries. We transported her to the surgical department of the Liberec hospital,” emergency medical responder spokesperson Lenka Markovičová said.

The case prompted a very emotional response in Liberec. “Parents in particular panicked and turned to the police with many questions about the safety of their children. Given the girl’s age and the seriousness of the alleged behavior, the case was a big priority for detectives,” said Suchánková.

Such fabricated cases are nothing new in the Czech Republic. “Official police statistics do not track the number of cases that are fabricated, so the data I am providing you is only approximate. I managed to determine that there have been about eight such cases here. Five of them were alleged robberies and three were alleged thefts from individuals,” police spokesperson Vojtěch Haňka told news server Romea.cz.

In other words, TV Nova knew it could not rely 100 % on the testimony of the alleged victim in its recent news report. Despite this, the broadcaster claimed with total certainty, without any doubt, that the perpetrators of it “are Romani”.

TV Nova has not only made itself ridiculous, it has kindled passions and a mood of enmity toward Romani people as a whole, and not just in Liberec, but in all of North Bohemia. News server Romea.cz will be following whether the Romani community will stand for this or whether they will be filing criminal charges against Ivan Berka and TV Nova.