Why the Czech Republic's radio is on strike today

Dispute over financing Why the Czech Republic's radio is on strike today As of: November 3rd, 2026 • 7:19 a.m

The public broadcaster in the Czech Republic is on strike. Reason: a law that abolishes the broadcasting fee - and should finance broadcasting from the state. Critics fear for the independence of reporting.

For Daniel Stach and his colleagues there is a lot at stake right now. The TV presenter organizes the strike at public broadcasting. "We are striking for independent radio and television. For you, not for the politicians." This is the slogan that the strike committee around Stach shares on social media.

In an interview, the TV presenter explains in advance: "From what we now know, there is clearly a potential risk for the independence of Czech Television and Czech Radio and also for their sustainable financing."

In order to send a clear signal of protest, the program on radio and television this Tuesday has noticeably been thinned out. A large part of the workforce joined the strike. Student organizations and actors' unions, which are also on strike, are also showing solidarity.

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Student Anna Prazakova from the University of Ostrava says: "We often hear the argument that young people no longer need public media because they get their information from the Internet. That's true, but we also get the information from the websites or social media presence of the public broadcasters, for example."

The trigger for the strike and the protests of the past few days is a law that the right-wing populist government introduced into parliament at short notice about a week ago: Instead of a license fee as before, Czech television and radio should in future be financed directly from the state budget.

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The budget would also be cut by around 15 percent. The fact that the governing coalition put the law to a vote after a first reading at 4:36 a.m. on a Saturday morning angered many Czechs.

Tens of thousands demonstrated in Prague that same weekend. In the days that followed, there were smaller protests in various Czech cities. Like the TV presenter Daniel Stach, the demonstrators and the opposition are worried that politicians could try to influence the reporting.

Prime Minister Andrej Babiš rejects this: "Of course, the independence of the media will be preserved and we will never intervene in the editorial work of Czech Television or Czech Radio, nor in their personnel matters."

The government's goal is to secure stable and predictable financing, explained Babiš. At the weekend, in an interview with a private television station, the Prime Minister brought up an alternative financing model beyond the state budget: "We will propose that the fees be voluntary: those who want should pay, those who don't want don't have to pay. We will of course finance a certain amount."

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A model like that in northern European countries is also being discussed, where broadcasting is partly financed through a special media tax.

In neighboring Slovakia, broadcasting fees were abolished in 2023, before the re-election of left-wing populist Robert Fico. Instead, broadcasting is financed with a direct government payment - but the amount has since been reduced. More layoffs were recently announced at Slovakian Broadcasting.

In the Czech Republic, the media committee is now dealing with the draft law first. Protesters and the opposition are demanding that there be a full debate about possible changes.

Civil society should not be underestimated, believes political scientist Jirio Pehe. "Unfortunately, government politicians are trying to delegitimize civil society and label the demonstrators as activists. In doing so, they are making the same mistakes as their colleagues in Poland and Hungary - which has actually strengthened civil society there."

What surveys already show is that a majority of the population rejects the way the government coalition is handling the broadcasting reform.

This topic in the program: tagesschau.de | Strike at public broadcasting in the Czech Republic | Nov 3, 2026 | 12:13 a.m