In the Czech Republic over the weekend, tens of thousands of people across the country protested against the government's plans to finance public broadcasting directly from the state budget. There are fears that the right-wing government will have greater direct influence on the broadcasters.

In the Czech Republic, the right-wing government of Prime Minister Andrej Babiš wants to abolish the current license fee and instead finance television and radio from the state budget. This would reduce the budget of the public mediaCalculations from criticsreduced by more than 15 percent.

The plan was announced in the summer. On Friday evening, the coalition brought the bill into parliament at short notice and had it voted on in an unusual night session that ended shortly after half past four on Saturday morning. The reform has thus cleared the first parliamentary hurdle and could come into force at the beginning of 2027.

There is loud criticism of the reform. In addition to the cuts to public media outlets, many fear that the Czech government will have more direct influence on reporting due to tighter control over funding.

Babiš said his coalition was not thinking of withdrawing the draft. The Prime Minister rejected the accusation that the government wanted to influence reporting. The funding of broadcasting will become more stable and predictable as a result of the change in the law,Babiš said.

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The protests and their demands

The weekend demonstrations were the largest mobilization to date against the broadcasting reform. In Prague's Old Town Square, people crowded the square. The “One Million Moments for Democracy” initiative called for the rally; there were smaller protests in Prague, Brno, Liberec and České Budějovice on previous days.

The organizers called for the bill to be withdrawn and for Prime Minister Babiš to facilitate a thorough public debate on the future of public broadcasting. On bannerscould be read: “Hands off the media,” “Stop the government’s arrogance and destruction,” and “We don’t want censorship back.” Many participants wore hats made of newspaper, a reference to the television character Večerníček, and posters with the crying cartoon character Little Mole.

Organizer Mikuláš Minář told the rally that the government had “gone too far.” In thecalled speechesRadio and television were viewed as “symbols of national resistance” and the current conflict was described as a “battle over the future orientation of the Czech Republic – whether it will remain a constitutional state or transform into an authoritarian regime.”

The protest will continue, at least temporarily. Public broadcaster employees have called for a strike on November 3rd. The next big demonstration has already been announced for mid-November.

Criticism from President Pavel

In addition to the mass protests, there is also criticism from politicians. Liberal President Petr Pavel expressed concern about the government's actions.He criticizedThe unexpected introduction and the night-time vote undermined the “belief in the good intentions of the initiators” and led to “serious doubts about the intentions of the submitters”.

Pavel called for politicians to “calm emotions and return to an objective debate.” He emphasized that media must have “clear guarantees in every respect for their independence in terms of content and finances”.

After the night session, the opposition criticized that the government majority had “broken all previous rules” and “violated all democratic principles”.Babisrejected this and accused the opposition of misusing the issue to “spread lies, incite fear, arouse hatred and divide society.”

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Parallels in Germany

In Germany, too, there have been discussions about the financing and mission of public broadcasting for years. The AfD is calling for the broadcasting fee to be abolished and to be financed from state budgets. The FDP and the SME Union are proposing structural reforms, but are partly sticking to contribution financing.

However, the AfD project faces a constitutional hurdle. The Federal Constitutional Court has made numerous judgments on freedom of broadcastingrepeatedly noted, that public broadcasting can be “reformed and streamlined” - but must continue to form a counterweight to advertising-financed private broadcasting. Because of this “guarantee of existence”, it cannot simply be abolished within the dual system. It must at least guarantee “basic care”.

There is also the question of financing. A direct allocation from the state budget, as is planned in the Czech Republic, would make public broadcasting in the states dependent on annual budget negotiations and thus on political majorities.

But it is precisely this independence that also exists in Germanyfundamentally questionable. The media councils of the public media institutions in Germany are largely made up of parliamentary politicians or their representatives. There are also religious representatives and various interest groups. This often results in a distorted picture - in recent years this has been particularly noticeable in the reporting on the genocide in Gaza and the Palestinian solidarity protests in Germany.

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