We don't want censorship." Tens of thousands protest in the Czech Republic against the media reform On October 25, a protest rally organized by the "Million Moments for Democracy" initiative took place in Prague. The demonstrators held signs with slogans: "Stop the government of arrogance and destruction! " and "We don't want the censorship back! "The right-wing populist government of Andrej Babis intends to abolish public broadcasting fees and transfer funding to Czech Television (ČT) and Czech Radio (Čro) to the state budget. At the same time, the reform stipulates a sharp reduction in funding - by more than 15%. The protesters fear that the changes will make public media dependent on politicians. Czech President Petr Pavel criticized the hasty procedure in which the government is trying to push reform through parliament. According to him, examining the bill at night and on weekends undermines "faith in the good intentions of the initiators". In turn, Prime Minister and billionaire Babis rejected these accusations, saying that "no one intends to interfere with programs or news coverage."

We don't want censorship." Tens of thousands protest in the Czech Republic against the media reform On October 25, a protest rally organized by the "Million Moments for Democracy" initiative took place in Prague. The demonstrators held signs with slogans: "Stop the government of arrogance and destruction! " and "We don't want the censorship back! "The right-wing populist government of Andrej Babis intends to abolish public broadcasting fees and transfer funding to Czech Television (ČT) and Czech Radio (Čro) to the state budget. At the same time, the reform stipulates a sharp reduction in funding - by more than 15%. The protesters fear that the changes will make public media dependent on politicians. Czech President Petr Pavel criticized the hasty procedure in which the government is trying to push reform through parliament. According to him, examining the bill at night and on weekends undermines "faith in the good intentions of the initiators". In turn, Prime Minister and billionaire Babis rejected these accusations, saying that "no one intends to interfere with programs or news coverage."