Czech journalists threaten to strike over plan to scrap licence fees

The Czech TV licence fee currently stands at about £5.30 a month. Photograph: Martin Divíšek/EPA

Jan Motal, a media commentator, said the proposed law “shifts funding under state control without explaining how independence will be protected”. “It is a half-formed reform being pushed through in a climate where political interference is a real concern,” Motal said.

He said successive governments had failed to reform Czech Television and Czech Radio. “Both the legislative and economic frameworks are essentially the same as they were 26 years ago. These institutions should have undergone reform long ago to secure their independence.”

Concerns about political pressure are shared by prominent figures within the media. Václav Moravec, a well-known journalist who worked at Czech Television for 21 years, recently left the broadcaster, saying live on air that it could no longer guarantee independence.

He told the Guardian that alongside external political pressure such as the proposed law, the broadcaster’s autonomy had been undermined internally, and he argued that resistance must also come from within the institution.

Moravec drew parallels with broader global trends. “Internal pressure and political pressure are working side by side. Political actors like Nigel Farage or Donald Trump argue that public media is no longer needed because we already have private media and a pluralistic information environment through social media and private news outlets.”

He argued that public opinion may further complicate the situation. “Research shows that 68% of the Czech public does not see a difference between licence fees and state budget funding,” Moravec said. “That makes it much easier for someone like Andrej Babiš to push for state control.”

Czech Radio has already reduced staffing in its international broadcasting division by a quarter after the foreign ministry cut funding to Radio Prague International. The foreign minister, Petr Macinka, now plans to end support for international broadcasting altogether next year, despite the service being mandated by law.

The Vienna-based International Press Institute said it feared that the bill, which still requires approval from the government and parliament, was intended to “weaken the broadcasters’ financial and editorial independence and compromise their ability to fulfil their public service remit”.