Thousands join Czech protest against public media financing plan

Czech public media workers went on strike and thousands rallied across the country on Tuesday over a government plan to change the way public broadcasting is funded.

The plan is led by billionaire turned Prime Minister Andrej Babiš and has already seen street protests in Prague, the Czech capital, last month and before.

The protesters fear the plan to switch from a licence fee paid by individuals to direct financing from the state budget will enable the government to stifle media freedom.

The coalition government, however, argues that the broadcasters need to cut costs and insists the plan will have no impact on editorial independence or programme content.

Under the plan, the country's public radio and television would be financed from the state budget, not from an existing system of regular fees from individuals, households and businesses. The media would receive about 15% less money than they do now, which could lead to staff layoffs, limited production and program cancellations.

The Czech parliament dominated by Babiš's three-party nationalist coalition rushed the bill through the first of three readings in a controversial overnight session last month.

Babiš said on Monday that "nobody wants to control public media, let alone nationalise them" and that "none of what the people are protesting against... is true".

Critics say the overhaul would give the ruling three-party coalition the means to take control of the media, similar to what populist governments did in Slovakia under Prime Minister Robert Fico and in Hungary before former Prime Minister Viktor Orbán was ousted from power in April.