PHOTOREPORTAGE: Czech Media Independence Protests

PHOTOREPORTAGE: Czech Media Independence Protests

On 15th June 2026, the Czech government approved a law that abolishes licence fees for public service media and replaces them with direct funding from the state budget. This means less money for public service media but also a loss of independence from the Czech government…

On Sunday 21st of June, the movement called “Milion chvilek pro demokracii” (=Million Moments for democracy), organized a protest march to the Czech Television building in Prague.

It’s a large civic movement that has been defending democracy in the Czech Republic since 2017 – specifically against the interests of Andrej Babiš, the current prime minister and an oligarch who used state subsidies to finance his businesses. He faced potential criminal prosecution for this. However, he managed to avoid it by allying with the Czech far right to secure a parliamentary majority, and thus ensure that Parliament would never vote to strip him of immunity for prosecution.

Right now, he and his allies are churning out controversial laws, aiming to weaken public institutions and silence critical voices – namely public service media, which until now have been financed by license fees. Monthly fees of approximately 8 euro paid by households owning a device capable of playing Czech Radio or Czech Television broadcasts. This system ensured that the state could not pressure public service media into reporting what it wanted to hear by threatening to cut their funding. The new system will no longer guarantee this.

Czech protests — “One must not give in to evil”

Czechia protests — The sign reading: “Andrej, stop talking bullsh*t” is in Slovak, which is a reference to Slovak origin of Prime Minister Andrej Babiš. The trio of flags on the right serves as a practical illustration of the fact that, despite numerous controversies, Israel continues to enjoy strong support from the Czech public

Czech Republic protests — “The government must not control”

czech media protests — “The truth belongs to the victor” – a pun twisting the popular Czech saying “The truth prevails”. In the picture is Oto Klempíř, the Minister of Culture from Motoristé sobě party, who proposed the controversial law

Czech public media protests — The protest sets off from the “Pražského povstání” metro station

Public service media Czechia — Mikuláš Minář, the founder of Milion chvilek pro demokracii

Public service media czech republic — “Jů and Hele would come with us” – another reference to a popular fairytale broadcast on Czech television

Protests in Czechia — “Defenestration” on the right, a look into the Czech moral compass on the left

Czechia protests media — Czech Television employees welcomed the protesters with thank-you banners

public service media independence — Czech Television employees welcomed the protesters with thank-you banners

Czech public service media protests — Czech Television employees welcomed the protesters with thank-you banners

Czech television — “Hands off the media”

Czech television protests — After the demonstration, people left banners and messages at the site

Czech media independence protests — “Make Andrej Go Away”

Czechia licence fees — After the demonstration, people left banners and messages at the site

The next day, Sunday 22nd of June, another demonstration took place: This time in front of the Czech Radio building in Prague on Vinohradská 12. It was an all-day event organized by the radio’s employees and accompanied by a warning strike: throughout the day, broadcasts were interrupted several times by a minute of silence.