President Pavel: Independence more important than media funding model

According to President Petr Pavel, guarantees against political interference will be more important than the specific method of financing public service media. Any proposal should be assessed from this perspective, the president told Czech journalists today during his visit to Argentina.

Minister of Culture Oto Klempíř (Motorists party) today presented a draft law that would transfer the funding of Czech Television and Czech Radio to the state budget starting next year. Pavel said he would like the final proposal to be discussed with as broad a range of stakeholders as possible. According to him, funding from the state budget does not necessarily mean interference with media independence, as demonstrated by examples in Finland and other Scandinavian countries.