Protest in defense of public media. Thousands of people took to the streets

Protests and strikes occurred in response to the government's plan to change public media funding from a subscription model to state budget financing. Demonstrators argue this threatens the independence of public television and radio, fearing job cuts and program cancellations. They highlighted similarities with Slovakia's media changes, where a new institution left many creators unemployed. The strike led to significant programming reductions, with public broadcasters airing repeats and brief news segments. Opposition parties demanded the withdrawal of the proposed law, which passed its first reading without public discussion. Prime Minister Andrej Babis rejected these claims, asserting the funding shift was part of the government's agenda.