The controversial director of Czech state television, Mr Jiri Hodac, has been released from hospital as the station's governing board met amid intense political pressure to decide on whether to replace him.
Mr Hodac, 53, avoided waiting journalists when he left the Prague-Motol hospital where he was admitted last Thursday after suffering a suspected heart attack.
The governing board was still meeting behind closed doors this evening to consider a demand by parliament to have Mr Hodac removed.
Protesting journalists at Ceska Televize (CT) began a sit-in at the station on December 24 after what they saw as a political appointment which threatened media independence in the country, more than a decade after the Velvet Revolution ended communist rule.
The protests sparked the country's biggest street demonstration since then, bringing an estimated 100,000 people onto the streets of Prague, and the row has dragged in politicians from across the political spectrum.
The journalists say Mr Hodac has close links to the Civic Democrats party (ODS) of former Prime Minister Mr Vaclav Klaus, who will probably run for president next year. Six of the eight-member board must vote against Mr Hodac to force his removal. However, at least three - all ODS appointees - have said they will oppose any moves to oust him.
Board chairman Mr Miroslav Mares said on Sunday that Mr Hodac would not step down after speaking with him by phone.
Mr Mares said the board would also discuss the quality and objectivity of CT news broadcasts, as well as CT's financial situation.
The Czech Foreign Minister Mr Jan Kavan became the latest to ask for Hodac to leave his post. He told the BBC, where Hodac once worked as a journalist, that his resignation would be the easiest way to resolve the crisis.
The striking journalists have continued to put out news programmes, but CT management has responded with its own broadcasts, and blacked out some programmes made by the protestors.
AFP