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Czech public media workers go on strike over a government plan to overhaul their funding · Best of: Features

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  Czech public media workers go on strike over a government plan to
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  overhaul their funding. This article is being
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  read by an automated voice generated by Everlet. Prague, the AP. Czech
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  public media workers went on a one day strike on Tuesday to
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  protests a government plan to overhaul how public broadcasters are funded, legislation
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  that many say would threaten their independence. The plan is led by
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  populist billionaire, turned Prime Minister Andrei Babiche, and has already seen street
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  protests in Prague, the Czech capital, last month. Under the plan, the
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  country's public radio and television would be financed from the state budget,
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  not from an existing system of regular fees from individuals, households and
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  businesses. The media would receive about fifteen percent less money than they
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  do now, which could likely lead to staff layoffs, limited production, and
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  program cancellations. Critics say the overhaul would give the ruling three party
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  coalition the means to take control of the media, similar to what
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  populist governments did in Slovakia under Prime Minister Robert Fico and in
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  Hungary before former Prime Minister Viktor Orban was ousted from power in
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  April. Mikhail Kubal, chief news editor at Czech Television, said the strike
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  on Tuesday is unprecedented in the history of Czech public service media.
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  On their T V screens, Czech residents on Tuesday saw an announcement
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  saying, We are doing everything we can to ensure that we can
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  continue to provide a public service in its full scope and quality
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  in the future. According to Kubal, only limited programming would be broadcast,
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  archived items and shorter news bulletins. Throughout the morning, Czech Public Radio
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  broadcast only music, interrupted by a brief statement explaining the reasons for
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  the strike and a minute of silence. University students planned to march
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  through Prague and other major cities later Tuesday to join planned rallies
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  in support of the public media. The strike has also been backed
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  by labor unions, university deans, churches, international media organizations, and other Hundreds
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  of leading Czech athletes have called on the government to withdraw the
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  proposed legislation on the funding overhaul. Such a funding model opens the
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  door to political pressure and threatens editorial independence, a joint statement of
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  the European Federation of Journalists, Reporters Without Borders, and several other groups
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  said. Babish, who has in the past attacked public and other mainstream
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  media, formed a governing coalition last year with two small political groups
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  known for extremist views, whose agenda includes reducing support for Ukraine and
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  rejecting some key European Union policies.