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Thousands of high school and university students marched through the Czech capital on Wednesday to protest against a government plan to overhaul and reduce funding for public radio and television.
“We won’t let you take the media,” protesters chanted. Smaller protests were organised across the country.
The new coalition government led by populist Prime Minister Andrej Babiš drafted the plan to scrap the fees that individuals, households and businesses pay to access the outlets.
Instead, the public media would be fully dependent on the state budget. Critics say that would compromise their independence.
The draft of the plan would significantly reduce public media’s current budgets. It still needs approval from the government and Parliament.
The media’s labour unions said they were ready to go on strike if the government goes ahead with the legislation, which could take effect next year.
Deputy Chairwoman of the Independent Unions at Czech Television, Zuzana Bancanska, warned staff outside the station that the changes would lead to mass layoffs.
“Both media will be unable to perform their public service, which can lead to their demise,” she said, while urging the public to support media independence.
The Vienna-based International Press Institute said it fears that the motivation behind the proposed changes is to “weaken the broadcasters’ financial and editorial independence and compromise their ability to fulfill their public service remit.”
The Czech government has rejected accusations of meddling in media coverage, arguing that state funding media is a common practice throughout Europe.
Critics have said the plans mirror those that have led to political control in Slovakia, as well as Hungary under outgoing Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, Babiš’ ally in their Patriots for Europe group in the European Parliament.
Additional sources • AP