Dear Members of the European Broadcasting Union,

In the Czech Republic, we benefit from a well-functioning media environment that combines strong public service media with robust private media organizations. Czech Television and Czech Radio are not merely media institutions; they are also cultural institutions. They form an integral part of our rich national heritage and, on numerous occasions, have played a direct role in pivotal moments of our history, including the defense of the Czech Radio during the Prague Uprising in 1945 and the Warsaw Pact invasion in 1968.

They are also custodians of our shared national memories and emotions — from the Velvet Revolution and the Olympic triumph in Nagano to cherished annual Christmas fairy tales and the beloved radio character Hajaja.

At the same time, they are trusted, self-assured, and well-managed institutions, operating without scandals, debt, or financial difficulties. By international standards, both organizations operate on budgets significantly below the EBU member average.

The recently published Digital News Report 2026 once again confirmed the leading position of Czech public service media in terms of public trust—not only within the Czech Republic, but also across Central and Eastern Europe.

Allow me to thank Czech Radio and Czech Television for hosting this General Assembly and for their kind invitation.

Politicians often reduce public service media to political news coverage alone—coverage they may wish to influence, regulate, or sometimes even control and restrict. I say this as a politician myself. But I would like to argue for a broader understanding of what public service media actually are.

Its most important attribute is independence, particularly in news and current affairs journalism. This is not only political independence, which private media can also provide, but equally economic independence—freedom from advertiser pressure and, crucially, from the influence of media owners.

Public service media are often the only institutions providing universal access to major sporting and cultural events for everyone—not only for paid subscribers, and not only for those with the digital literacy or connectivity to access them elsewhere.

They provide verified and reliable information accessible to all citizens—not only to those who can afford premium news sources, or who have the time and skills to filter and verify information on their own.

Their mission encompasses quality children’s programming, documentaries, educational content, regional coverage, demanding investigative journalism, and numerous niche genres that would never attract sufficient commercial interest from private broadcasters. At the same time, it includes entertainment programming and popular drama productions.

This balanced combination of serious public-interest content and broadly appealing programming is essential for a healthy democratic media environment. Public service media must remain relevant, and they must maintain a meaningful audience share.

Public service media also serve as a benchmark for the wider media landscape— setting standards not only in journalism, but also in language, culture, and dramatic production. If their role becomes marginal, the behavior and standards of the entire media sector will inevitably be affected.

Today, public service media are no longer competing solely with traditional media organizations for the attention of audiences. Increasingly, they compete with global digital platforms whose algorithms determine which information citizens see and which information remains invisible.

European democracy requires strong and independent institutions capable of creating content guided by the public interest rather than by purely commercial objectives.

All of this is at stake when politicians begin to make careless decisions about the future of public service media.

It appears that the Czech Republic, once again, stands at a crossroads. We hear calls for the fulfilment of electoral promises, namely promises that include significant cuts to public service media funding. Yet the pace of these proposed changes leaves little room for thorough professional debate or careful assessment of their consequences. They may affect the budgets of public service organizations in ways that undermine their financial stability, disrupt long-term planning, and threaten values that have been built over decades.

The current debate is fundamentally about whether public service media will have the conditions necessary to fulfil their mission.

I do not believe that governments pursuing such policies—whether in our country or elsewhere—necessarily intend to destroy public service media directly. However, they risk condemning them to irrelevance. By destabilizing their finances, planning processes, and workforce, they may gradually erode audiences, trust, relevance, and ultimately the very justification for their existence.

At the same time, warnings from media professionals and civil society are clear and unequivocal. These voices caution that radical reductions in public service media may lead to consequences that are both irreversible and lasting.

I am fully aware that pressure on the independence of public service media is not a local phenomenon. It is a European trend. That is why I would like to use this forum to emphasize the importance of public service media and their indispensable role within democratic societies.

Today’s combination of disinformation, fake accounts, social-media-driven news consumption, and the growing influence of artificial intelligence creates unprecedented space for mass misunderstanding and large-scale manipulation.

Europe needs strong public service media even more than it did in previous decades, when the digital information environment was significantly calmer and less fragmented.

Recent years have reminded us that reliable and trustworthy information is not merely a matter of media policy. It is also an essential component of societal resilience against foreign influence operations, disinformation campaigns, and times of crisis.

Strong public service media are one of the pillars of democratic security.

The themes of this EBU General Assembly are themselves an expression of solidarity that exists among public service media across Europe. We all face similar pressures: pressures related to funding, efficiency, credibility, and continued relevance.

The EBU provides a common and powerful platform for defending the values of public service media. Its work is therefore more important today than ever before.

The EBU has consistently demonstrated a sense of shared responsibility for developments within the media landscape. It actively engages with citizens, national governments, the European Commission, and the European Parliament.

One important result of these efforts has been the adoption of the European Media Freedom Act. The Regulation explicitly recognizes information as a public good and acknowledges that media organizations cannot be treated in the same manner as ordinary commercial enterprises. Their independence must therefore be protected at the European Union level.

It further recognizes that media play a vital role in safeguarding the integrity of the European information space and are indispensable to the functioning of our democratic societies and economies.

This legislation constitutes an important instrument for the protection of public service media.

Dear Members of the EBU,

I am convinced that you fully recognize the profound responsibility associated with information in the public sphere.

At the same time, I would like all of us to remember that we share responsibility not only for the media environment in which today’s generation makes decisions, but also for the environment in which future generations are growing up and will one day make decisions of their own.

Let us continue to protect the plurality, quality, accessibility, universality, and independence of public service media.

In doing so, we are protecting democracy itself.

Thank you for your attention.

Petr Pavel, President of the Czech Republic, Prague June 25th 2026