On Tuesday 10 November 2026, students at the Czech University of Life Sciences will hold a rally in support of public service media, thereby joining the nationwide protests of university students. They will gather at 11.55 am by the Sundial, a symbol of the Velvet Revolution of November 1989 at CZU.
The rally is part of the ‘CZU Students for Media!’ initiative and its aim is to express support for public service media. The programme will include short speeches by representatives from Czech Television and Czech Radio, who will share their personal experiences and practical insights.
One of the reasons for this support is the looming enormous burden on the state budget. Another mandatory expenditure, such as the transfer of funding for public service media from licence fees directly to the state, will inevitably lead to an increase in the deficit and higher costs for servicing the national debt. This may, in turn, very significantly jeopardise the possibility of increasing budgets even for public universities.
A fundamental problem, however, is also the direct threat to the independence of the media as such. Furthermore, any reduction in the budgets of Czech Television and Czech Radio would lead to a significant curtailment of educational and social projects, as well as the termination of long-standing cooperation with universities.