Czech Foreign Ministry bars Deník N journalist from Macinka's press conference for the second time

The Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday denied accreditation to Deník N journalist Zdislava Pokorná for a press conference on the future of Czech cultural centres, at which Minister Petr Macinka (Motorists for Themselves movement) announced the resignation of their director, Jitka Panek Jurková.

According to Deník N's editorial team, the ministry informed the journalist in an official letter that "a press conference for alternative media and conspiracy blogs will be held another time." When Pokorná asked for an explanation, the ministry replied that "in the interest of promoting diversity of opinion" it plans a separate press meeting for "alternative media," to which Deník N would certainly be invited — though none of the letters were signed by a specific staff member.

According to the journalist herself, she submitted her accreditation request well in advance and provided all the required information, but instead of confirmation received exactly this response. When she nevertheless showed up at the Černín Palace, she was denied entry on the grounds that she was not on the list of accredited journalists.

Pokorná had intended to ask the minister about the Motorists' party's stance on the police decision regarding alleged hateful statements by MP Filip Turek. "I consider it entirely unacceptable for a state institution to deny a journalist accreditation without any substantive explanation, and to label a reputable outlet a conspiracy blog," she said.

Deník N editor-in-chief Pavel Tomášek called the barring of Pokorná "unacceptable and outrageous." According to him, this is yet another example of how the Babiš government and ministries led by the Motorists are trying to hinder the work of independent media in the Czech Republic.

Responding to a question about the incident during the press conference itself, Macinka repeated the wording he had earlier sent to the journalist. "As part of our support for diversity of opinion, we've decided to occasionally hold press conferences for alternative media and conspiracy blogs, to which we will of course invite Deník N as their representative," the minister said. He added that, unlike the previous government, which "shut down alternative media websites and banned them," his ministry, on the contrary, is "opening up" to such outlets.

Zdislava Pokorná has previously covered the scandals surrounding MP and government Green Deal commissioner Filip Turek. In October 2025, she published posts from his Facebook page containing racist and hateful statements. It was because of these publications and other scandals that President Petr Pavel refused to appoint Turek as environment minister. Police investigated the posts but this week dropped the case due to the statute of limitations on the possible offence.

This is not the first such incident: Pokorná was also denied access to a January briefing at the ministry, where Macinka commented on his conflict with the president. At the time, the minister explained the ban by saying, "well, we're terrible, I know." In response, the editors-in-chief of ten Czech media outlets — including Czech Radio, Novinky.cz, Seznam Zprávy, Ekonom, Czech Television, ČTK, Hospodářské noviny, Reportér, Právo and Respekt — sent the ministry a joint letter demanding that journalists be guaranteed access to information without selective restrictions. Macinka admitted at the time that "there's something to that" and assured that the ministry would not bar journalists from attending press conferences.

Around Prague, based on reporting by seznamzpravy.cz