Pressure was growing on the embattled head of Czech state television, Mr Jiri Hodac, last night after the Czech parliament called for his resignation early on Saturday morning.
After a heated 14-hour emergency session, the lower house of parliament adopted a resolution saying that Mr Hodac's resignation was "a necessary condition for the resumption of objective and balanced broadcasting".
Mr Hodac's position has become virtually untenable: if he does not resign, parliament asked the council which appointed him to fire him in the coming days.
The chairman of the Czech Television Council, Mr Miroslav Mares, said it was unclear how the body would react to the parliamentary vote. "I consider [the resolution] to be political pressure . . . I cannot exclude that there will not be enough votes for dismissal," he said. The Czech Television Council is dominated by appointees of the two main parties in parliament, the ruling Social Democrats and the opposition Civic Democrats (ODS).
The leader of the ODS, Mr Vaclav Klaus, described the strike at CT as "an employees' rebellion disguised as a struggle for freedom of speech". Czech Prime Minister Mr Milos Zeman, who initially supported Mr Hodac, had changed his mind by the time of the parliamentary debate.
"I support the dismissal of general director Hodac, although I used to be against it," he said, before going on to criticise the Czech President, Mr Vaclav Havel, for supporting the striking journalists.
"In my view, anyone - even if it is the head of state - who calls for valid laws to be broken, has no business in Czech politics," he said, saying Mr Havel was "encouraging a violation of the law".
Mr Havel's office later issued a statement rejecting Mr Zeman's accusation.