Czech Radio invites public to shape its future direction

Czech Radio, the country's public service broadcaster, has launched a broad public consultation to help define its content, number of stations, and the services it should offer in the 21st century. The public can provide input through an online questionnaire and at a series of in-person meetings scheduled across the republic during the summer.

This public outreach is a key part of preparing a new „memorandum on public service,“ a strategic document that the Director-General of Czech Radio is legally required to submit. The memorandum will outline the broadcaster's mission and operational framework for the next five years. While the deadline is October, Director-General René Zavoral intends to present the document in August or September. Once submitted, it must be approved by the Czech Radio Council, a supervisory body, and co-signed by the Minister of Culture. Adherence to this memorandum is critical, as failure to meet its established criteria could ultimately lead to the Director-General's dismissal.

To gather feedback, the broadcaster has created an anonymous online survey, estimated to take about seven minutes to complete. It asks participants about their perceptions of the radio, their listening habits, and their views on whether the number of stations should change. A central question is whether public service broadcasting should offer the widest possible range of content or be limited to programming not provided by commercial stations.

In addition to the digital survey, public discussions will be held in the regional studios of Brno, Ostrava, Prague, and Plzeň, as well as at the Summer Film School in Uherské Hradiště. These events will feature prominent Czech Radio hosts, including Jan Pokorný, Aleš Cibulka, and Tomáš Pancíř, who will engage with the audience and listen to their perspectives on the broadcaster's role.

According to Director-General Zavoral, a working draft of the memorandum, developed over several months, has already been shared with the Council and discussed with commercial media stakeholders. However, he stressed that public feedback is of „absolute importance.“

Key topics under consideration for the memorandum include making Czech Radio's extensive archives more accessible to both the public and commercial entities, and defining the broadcaster's presence in the digital sphere, including its podcasts and news website, which have been a point of contention. „We still believe that this is a public service, just a different form of distribution,“ Zavoral stated.

In the context of the consultation, Czech Radio is also addressing common questions regarding its function and funding. In the Czech Republic, public broadcasting is funded by a mandatory license fee paid by households and businesses that own a radio receiver, regardless of whether they listen to Czech Radio's programming.

The broadcaster defends this model by explaining the fee is legally tied to device ownership, framing public media as an essential part of the nation's democratic system and cultural heritage. It argues that its independence from political and commercial interests, unlike private media, ensures a reliable source of objective information and allows it to produce diverse, non-commercial content, such as radio plays and documentaries, that would otherwise not be created.