Massive Crowds Rally in Prague to Defend Czech Public Broadcasting Independence

Thousands of protesters filled Prague’s streets on Sunday to defend the independence of Czech public television and radio and to voice their opposition to government plans to overhaul their funding model. The rally was organised by the civic group Million Moments for Democracy under the slogan “Never again 4:36”, a reference to the moment when the governing majority forced through a controversial amendment to the relevant law at first reading in the Chamber of Deputies in mid-October. The vote came in the early hours of Saturday, after the majority ended the plenary debate prematurely, preventing more than 60 opposition deputies from taking the floor.

At Letná, the capital’s largest open space, an estimated 350,000 to 400,000 people gathered to protest the government’s programme, according to media reports on Sunday afternoon.

Demonstrators travelling from across the country sharply criticised the coalition’s policies and called on the far-right Freedom and Direct Democracy (SPD), led by Chamber of Deputies Speaker Tomio Okamura, to leave the government.

Both public broadcasters are currently financed through compulsory monthly fees paid by the public. The government instead intends to fund them from the state budget, a proposal that has triggered widespread public backlash, with critics warning that direct state financing would allow the authorities to interfere with editorial independence and impartiality.

Publicly available figures suggest the proposed state subsidy would be well below what the broadcasters currently collect through licence fees.

The opposition, the press and a large share of the public have also rejected the plan, arguing that reliance on state money would ultimately compromise the freedom of public service media.

Support for Czech Television and Czech Radio came from student associations at universities and colleges nationwide, dozens of Czech theatres, writers, prominent athletes, churches, healthcare professionals and representatives of international journalists’ organisations.

Speakers at the demonstration repeatedly stressed that public service media cannot belong to politicians, the government or the state, but to the public as a whole, and must reflect the perspectives of all major segments of society. They called for genuinely independent and free public broadcasting.

In the Czech Republic, every household with a television or radio pays a monthly fee of 150 koruna (2,400 forint) for television and 55 koruna (880 forint) for radio. This year, licence fees bring Czech Television 6.73 billion koruna (107.68 billion forint) and Czech Radio 2.47 billion koruna (39.52 billion forint).

The government of Andrej Babiš has said it will scrap the household fees and cover both broadcasters from the state budget instead. The Prague rally was carried live by the public news channel, the CTK news agency and several independent outlets. Radek Vondráček, a member of the largest governing party, ANO (Dissatisfied Citizens’ Action), attacked the organisers and Million Moments for Democracy during a televised debate, describing them as “an association of professional agitators”.

According to police, the demonstration passed without incident until early evening, with no disturbances reported.

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