News

The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) has warned that the government’s proposal to fund public-service media from the state budget lacks legal safeguards designed to protect Czech Television and Czech Radio from political influence over future funding decisions.

The criticism came in a joint statement issued by the EBU, 17 public-service broadcasters from Central and Eastern Europe, and eight journalism organizations. The signatories urged the government to abandon the planned changes.

According to the EBU, any reform of public-service media financing, regardless of the model chosen, must ensure adequate, stable and predictable funding and be accompanied by strong, binding guarantees of editorial independence.

Staff at national public broadcaster Czech Radio, which includes Radio Prague International, are holding a 24-hour strike from midnight on Sunday.

Employees are opposed to a government plan to end the current license fee funding system and place the station directly under the state budget. This will bring about a significant cut in Czech Radio’s budget, while critics say it may also lead to political pressure and interference.

The government’s bill also concerns Czech Television and its staff are taking similar action on Monday. On Sunday afternoon an estimated several thousand supporters of the station gathered in front of its main building to protest against the planned changes.

Czech President Petr Pavel says that society should pay attention to the warning signs that have led to conflicts in the past and not underestimate threats. He made these comments on the site of the former village of Ležáky in Eastern Bohemia during a memorial event marking the anniversary of the village’s destruction by the Nazis 84 years ago.

The head of state told the Czech News Agency that after a long period of peace and relative prosperity people tended to believe this was how things should be. However, he said, history shows that people must work to maintain peace every day and that this may not always succeed without effort.

The Nazis burned down the village of Ležáky on June 24, 1942, in retaliation for the assassination of Governor Reinhard Heydrich. This occurred two weeks after the massacre in Lidice, Central Bohemia. The Gestapo discovered that paratroopers from Ležáky, trained in England, had been using the “Libuše” radio to maintain contact between the domestic and foreign resistance movements.

Staff at national public broadcaster Czech Radio, which includes Radio Prague International, are holding a 24-hour strike from midnight on Sunday.

Employees are opposed to a government plan to end the current license fee funding system and place the station directly under the state budget. This will bring about a significant cut in Czech Radio’s budget, while critics say it may also lead to political pressure and interference.

The government’s bill also concerns Czech Television and its staff are taking similar action on Monday. On Sunday afternoon an estimated several thousand supporters of the station gathered in front of its main building to protest against the planned changes.