Prague sees mass protest against government bill to change public media funding

Hundreds of thousands of people were expected to gather in Prague over the weekend for what organisers called a decisive protest against a government bill to change how public broadcasters are financed. The demonstration in Letná park came amid a months‑long dispute that has already seen strikes, nightly rallies and repeated clashes between critics and the premiership of Andrej Babiš.

What the draft law would change

The proposal would abolish the current licence‑fee model that funds Czech Television (ČT) and Czech Radio (ČRo) and instead move their financing directly into the state budget. The ruling coalition fast‑tracked the first of three readings of the bill and pushed it through a parliamentary vote at 4:36 a.m. on 24 October.

The coalition parties — Babiš's ANO, the far‑right SPD and the conservative Motorists — argue that the licence fee is an unfair tax and say the new model, which would see ČT and ČRo budgets cut by about 15 percent in the first year, will force greater efficiency. Critics dispute those claims and point out that reforms in other EU countries usually include explicit guarantees for long‑term financial stability and editorial independence, safeguards the Czech proposal lacks.

Employees at the public broadcasters have already staged a one‑day warning strike that disrupted TV and radio schedules. Broadcasters warned that the planned budget cuts would lead to programme reductions and job losses. Analysts say the rapid, late‑night handling of the bill and the government’s rhetoric helped fuel public anger.

“The confrontational approach, attempts to limit parliamentary debate and the government's rhetoric toward journalists and critics — all of that contributed to the strong reaction in public,” said Otto Eibl, political scientist at Masaryk University in Brno.

Organisers of the Letná gathering, the civic initiative Million Moments for Democracy, said pressure must continue. “Words mean nothing,” the group declared. “While people stand up to defend independent media, the government continues to behave as if it owns the state.” The initiative previously mobilised an estimated 300,000 people in 2019 and organised a demonstration of more than 200,000 earlier this year.

The protest took place two days before the anniversary of the start of the Velvet Revolution on 17 November, a date of strong symbolic weight in the country. Some opposition figures and analysts warn that if the dispute over public media broadens to include wider grievances about living costs and housing, the political cost for the government could rise quickly.

Prime Minister Andrej Babiš said he would be willing to submit a new draft that would explicitly protect editorial independence and remove direct budget financing from the bill, but critics remain sceptical until concrete guarantees appear. President Petr Pavel and the upper chamber, the Senate, could still try to block the legislation, but the government currently holds the parliamentary majority needed to pass it.

Photo: press material from the event