PRAGUE — Thousands of people marched through the streets of Prague on Sunday to voice their opposition to the Czech government’s plan to completely overhaul how public media is funded — a system that has been in place for decades.
Protesters and critics argue the proposed changes would not only reduce funding but also open the door to political meddling in public broadcasting.
The demonstration came just one day before employees at public broadcasters Czech Television and Czech Radio were set to go on strike over the same issue. The work stoppage was expected to affect programming, though both stations planned to remain on the air.
The government — led by Prime Minister Andrej Babis’ populist ANO party and supported by right-wing and far-right coalition partners — announced last week its intention to eliminate licence fees, which currently serve as the primary source of revenue for public television and radio. Officials argue that most citizens do not want to pay the fees levied on households and businesses, and say they plan to fund public broadcasters directly through the state budget instead. Opponents contend this shift would be a direct threat to the broadcasters’ independence.
Mikulas Minar, a representative of the Million Moments (Milion Chvilek) group that organized the march, addressed the crowd at the outset of the demonstration with a firm message: “Media does not belong to politics.”
The planned march route was trimmed shorter than originally intended due to the intense heat wave gripping Prague and much of Europe. The CTK news agency estimated that thousands participated, walking through city neighborhoods toward the Czech Television building while holding banners reading “Hands off public media.”
Under the government’s proposal, funding would revert to levels last seen between 2008 and 2024 — before a rare fee increase implemented by the previous government took effect in 2025. That rollback would amount to a 15% reduction in overall financing for the broadcasters.
Czech Television’s chief stated this week that such a cut could force the station to lay off somewhere between 300 and 500 employees out of its total workforce of 2,900.
While the government has repeatedly criticized both public and privately owned independent media outlets — accusing them of bias — officials maintain that the funding changes do not threaten the editorial independence of Czech Television or Czech Radio.
