A fast-tracked bill on public media funding reform has sparked strikes, rallies and fears for the independence of public broadcasting in Czechia. A massive protest is due to take place in Prague on November 15.
https://p.dw.com/p/5POMXPrefer DW on Google'Strike — For a free press, free media' Many in Czechia fear that the government's plans to change the way public media is funded will undermine the independence of Czech Television and Czech RadioImage: Katerina Sulova/CTK Photo/IMAGOAdvertisementHundreds of thousands of people are expected to rally in Prague this weekend to protest the Czech government's bid to ram a bill to reform public media funding through parliament in a surprise overnight session late last month.
The populist coalition of Prime Minister Andrej Babis fast-tracked the first of three readings of the legislation, which culminated in a vote of approval at 04:36 a.m. on October 24.
The bill has already provoked numerous demonstrations and strikes across the country, but Sunday's gathering in the capital's Letna Park is likely to be by far the largest to date.
Under the government's proposal, the license fee model that currently funds Czech Television (CT) and Czech Radio (CRo) would be scrapped, and the broadcasters would be funded directly from the state budget.
The three parties in the coalition — Babis's centrist ANO, the far-right SPD, and radical conservative Motorists, whose voter bases tend to be less affluent — insist that the license fee is an unfair tax.
The parties argue that the new arrangement, which would see funding for CT and CRo cut by around 15% in the first year, would make the two more efficient. They also point out that several other European Union states have made similar changes.
Critics have angrily dismissed these justifications.
Opposition parties, civil society organizations and international watchdogs accuse the government of seeking to undermine the independence of the broadcasters, whose critical reporting has long irked ANO and the SPD in particular.
Analysts point out that while models in other EU states include guarantees of long-term financial stability and editorial independence, the Czech government proposal offers neither.
CT and CRo have warned that the reduced budget included in the bill will mean programming- and staff cuts.
When the first publication of the proposed bill was met with protests over the summer, Vaclav Stetka of the European New School of Digital Studies told DW that such "dramatic budget cuts represent an act of cultural vandalism."
There has also been condemnation of the restriction of the parliamentary debate amid the fast-tracking of the bill.
"The confrontational approach, the attempts to limit parliamentary debate and the government's rhetoric towards journalists and critics have all contributed to the public backlash," Otto Eibl, political scientist at Masaryk University in Czechia's second city Brno, told DW.
The backlash was immediate. Crowds picketed parliament through the night as the government pushed through the first reading of the bill.
Since then, multiple rallies have taken place in cities and towns across the country. Many of these protests were led by students and joined by unions, Churches and representatives of educational and cultural institutions.
CT and CRo staff called a strike in early November, disrupting the country's TV and radio schedules.
It will take place two days before the anniversary of the start of the Velvet Revolution, which ultimately brought down communism in what was then Czechoslovakia in 1989.
The civil society group Million Moments for Democracy, which is organizing Sunday's rally, brought an estimated 300,000 onto the streets to protest during Babis's first term as prime minister in 2019 and more than 200,000 earlier this year.
The government's sudden bid to push through the proposal reflects impatience to deliver on a core pledge made ahead of the October 2025 election, as well as the longstanding ambition of the prime minister, who was stymied in his attempt to engineer control of CT's governing council during his first term in power in 2017–21.
Vaclav Stetka notes that repeated assaults on public media by Czech governments past and present reflect a particular political culture across Europe's post-communist states.
"The political elite has never accepted the independence of public media," he asserted.
In Czechia, however, the public broadcasters have earned special status as cornerstones of democracy.
That standing was forged in what became known as the "Czech TV crisis" of 2000–01, when an occupation of CT's studios by staff and mass protests forced the government of the day to back down on a bid to wrest control.
"The fight over the public service media has become a symbol of the defense of liberal democratic values and institutions," Eibl said.
As anger has swelled, the government has sought to calm the situation. Babis has said that a new proposal, which would see public media funding moved off budget and editorial independence guaranteed, would be drawn up and made available for a full and open debate.
However, critics remain unimpressed, noting a lack of any detail and the fact that other members of the government appear determined to remain on course.
Million Moments for Democracy has insisted the pressure must continue.
"Words are worth nothing," the group said. "While people stand up for independent media, the government continues to act as if it owns the country."
With little sign that the opposition will dissipate, the government faces a choice.
It has the parliamentary majority it needs to push the bill through and defeat any likely vetoes from the upper house Senate and President Petr Pavel.
Polls suggest political support for the government has been weakened and could diminish further if the protests expand to include growing frustrations over the cost of living and housing, as happened recently with student-led protests in France and other European countries.
"The real risk for the government is that the media issue becomes a lightning rod for broader dissatisfaction," said Martin Vokalek of the Prague-based EUROPEUM Institute for European Policy.
The PM announced that he will not attend the Velvet Revolution anniversary celebrations on November 17, which are hugely symbolic, in the hope that his absence might "calm the tense situation."
However, there's little concern that the Czech protests could descend into violence.
Analysts note that the anger in Czechia remains tightly focused on the public media proposal and continues to be expressed in a similar way to the seismic events of the country's modern history.
"I would not expect French-style scenes," Vokalek told DW, noting that the same "large, peaceful and civic Czech protest culture," which gave the Velvet Revolution and 1993's Velvet Divorce from Slovakia their name, is still strong.
