Thousands gathered at Prague’s Letná on Sunday to oppose the Andrej Babiš government’s plan to abolish the public-media licence fee and finance public radio and television from the state budget. The dispute is not merely about how the money is collected. It is about whether a new funding model would carry safeguards strong enough to protect broadcasters’ independence.
According to Polsat News, the Million Moments for Democracy initiative called the demonstration. Protesters argued that shifting funding to the budget could make public broadcasters more dependent on the state. That is a serious concern, but the supplied reporting does not include the full bill or the government’s proposed editorial-independence safeguards. It cannot settle the reform’s eventual effect.
Government coalition figures showed no sign of retreating from the plan. ANO politician Radek Vondráček dismissed the protest as lacking substance, while Foreign Minister and Motorists leader Petr Macinka said the government would implement the changes. That makes a public account of the proposed safeguards more important, not less. A commitment to proceed is not an answer to concerns about political pressure on editors.
The turnout figures also require care. Organiser Mikuláš Minář put attendance at 350,000 to 450,000, later citing about 400,000 and referring to police data. But police spokesperson Eva Kropáčová told CTK that the police do not publish participant numbers. The gathering was plainly large, while the numbers circulated by organisers remain organisers’ estimates.
The protest has put the government’s media-financing proposal under a necessary political test. Public-media funding can be reformed, but moving it into the state budget raises a clear obligation: the government should show how it will insulate newsrooms from day-to-day political power.
Sources
- Polsat News · Source date: 2026-11-15
Independent editorial content. WUA is not affiliated with any political party. 2026-11-15