In Prague on Tuesday, thousands of school and university students took to the streets to protest against plans by Prime Minister Andrej Babiš’s government to revamp public broadcasting funding. Rallies also took place in other cities across the country.
The populist coalition government plans to abolish the current broadcasting fees that households and companies pay for access to public radio and television stations. In the future, the broadcasters are to be financed entirely from the state budget – which would significantly reduce their budgets and increase their dependence on the government of the day.
Critics, including the Vienna-based International Press Institute, warn that the intention is clear: to weaken the broadcasters’ financial and editorial independence. Employee associations announced that they would go on strike if the plans were implemented. Observers draw comparisons with media policies in Hungary under Viktor Orbán and Slovakia, where similar reforms have led to political control over public media.
