Government aims to move TV and radio funding under state control, which critics say undermines independence
Journalists at the Czech Republic’s public broadcasters have said they are prepared to go on strike unless the government of the billionaire prime minister, Andrej Babiš, backs down on its plan to scrap licence fees and move funding under state control.
In what the journalists see as a threat to their independence, the government wants to replace the current system, in which households pay fees directly to public service media, with direct funding from the state budget. “Licence fees are cancelled,” the culture minister, Oto Klempíř, declared last week.
Continue reading...This article was originally published by The Guardian and written by Anna Koslerova in Prague.
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