OPEN LETTER

PMA & others urge Czechia’s government to uphold public media’s independence

12 January 2026
The Public Media Alliance has coordinated an open letter, sent to the new government of the Czech Republic, urging them to uphold the independence of public media, signed by international press freedom organisations. 
View of the Prague Government Office
View to the Prague Government Office and Prague Castle from the Vltava river. Famous place in the Czech Republic, ancient Hradcany hill with the president office and Straka academie. Credit: Ivan Serebryannikov / Shutterstock.com

The Public Media Alliance (PMA) has urged the new government of the Czech Republic to “uphold the secure and viable funding of Czechia’s public media system, and refrain from implementing major overhauls which would undermine the organisations’ independence and the trust that audiences place in them.”

The open letter, coordinated by PMA and signed by leading international press freedom organisations, was sent on 12 January to the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic, Andrej Babiš, and the Culture Minister, Oto Klempíř. It comes after the government – which was formed late last year – put forward its programme, which includes proposals to abolish the licence fee system which funds the country’s television and radio public media organisations. 

Read the full letter below or read the letter in Czech.

Dear Prime Minister Babiš and Minister of Culture Klempíř, 

Ahead of this week’s parliamentary vote on your new government’s programme, which includes the provision to abolish the licence fee that funds Czechia’s public media, we, the undersigned national and international press freedom organisations, urge you to uphold the secure and viable funding of Czechia’s public media system, and refrain from implementing major overhauls which would undermine the organisations’ independence and the trust that audiences place in them.

Independent public service media are an essential cornerstone of democracies worldwide, producing impartial and accurate fact-based news and information, fostering an informed citizenry, and providing a universal service to all audiences.

Article 5 of the European Media Freedom Act (EMFA), in full force since August 2025, requires the European Union Member States including Czechia to “ensure that public service media providers are editorially and functionally independent and provide in an impartial manner a plurality of information and opinions to their audiences.” EMFA also obliges states to ensure public media have “adequate, sustainable and predictable financial resources”.

Despite the commitment to “preserve [the] independence” of the public service media expressed in the government’s programme, our organisations are concerned about the specific measures in the manifesto as well as by proposals put forward by some parties within your government ahead of the election.The following measures have the potential to undermine the independence of the Czech public media: 

  • Replacing the licence fee with direct state budget funding;
  • Including Czech public media in the competence of the Supreme Audit Office.

Regarding the proposal to replace the licence fee, we note there are different positions within the government on this issue. We believe that transitioning from a licence fee funding model to one directly linked to the state budget increases the capacity for a government to exert financial pressure on public media, and use funding as a way of threatening the organisation’s output.

Although many independent public broadcasters are funded via this mechanism, there must be clear and effective guardrails in place which maintain their independence from government. EMFA Article 5 stipulates that “funding procedures for public service media providers are based on transparent and objective criteria laid down in advance. … Those financial resources shall be such that the editorial independence of public service media providers is safeguarded.”

ČT and ČRo retain the highest levels of trust amongst Czech citizens across all media companies and are a model for public service media in the region. We believe the proposed reforms, without strong and robust safeguards for editorial and organisational independence, pose clear risks.

Additionally, we are concerned that changing the funding model would undo the long-overdue funding increase that passed in 2025. It was the first funding increase in two decades for ČRo and 17 years for ČT. In an era marred by increased disinformation and geopolitical instability, public media needs to be properly financed to deliver the level of services that audiences expect and need. Lack of adequate funding results in declining services and contributes to a greater struggle for relevance.

While there is a political consensus on the legitimate proposal of your government to include the Czech public media in the competence of the Supreme Audit Office (NKÚ), we are concerned that a financial audit could be abused to exert political pressures on the broadcasters. We urge you to ensure that any financial audit is transparent, and isn’t instrumentalised to decrease public media’s budget, as has happened in Lithuania.

Overall, reforming public media can have serious implications. In Slovakia, the overhaul of RTVS – now named STVR – has seen greater direct government control in the governance affairs of the company. It led to the firing of the director general, and the disbandment of the board. In 2025, a close government ally was elected to the position of director general by the new board in a closed-door vote. However, the EMFA requires that the processes for appointing and dismissing heads of management or management boards guarantee public media’s independence.

ČT and ČRo retain the highest levels of trust amongst Czech citizens across all media companies and are a model for public service media in the region. We believe the proposed reforms, without strong and robust safeguards for editorial and organisational independence, pose clear risks.

Our organisations urge your new administration to uphold the independence of public media, to retain its current level of funding, and allow ČT and ČRo to flourish in their distribution of independent, fact-based news and information. We urge you to respect the essential pillars of public media as stipulated in EMFA.

Signed by:
  • Public Media Alliance (PMA)
  • International Press Institute (IPI)
  • Reporters Without Borders (RSF)
  • European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF)
  • European Federation of Journalists (EFJ)
  • Free Press Unlimited (FPU) 
  • Hlídač státu
  • Lobbio
  • OBC Transeuropa
  • Syndicate of Journalists of Czech Republic
More Statements
Related Posts