Currently, the Chamber of Deputies appoints and recalls members of the Czech Television Council and the Czech Radio Council. The involvement of the Senate in the election of media councils will strengthen the plurality of opinions represented and reduce the risk of politicization of public service media.

The current legislation does not impose any criteria on professional qualifications, relevant experience, or any ethical requirements. Eligibility requirements should therefore be established, in order to ascertain candidates’ knowledge and ability in relation to the media sector. The rules on incompatibilities and conflict of interest should also be strengthened. The power to nominate candidates for council elections should be reserved to organizations with a track record in terms of a consistent professional focus and a minimum number of years of operation.

Compliance of public service media council decisions with relevant law is a basic precondition for the proper performance of their function. We therefore propose to introduce the option to review the councils’ decisions by administrative courts. In order to strengthen safeguards against the politicization of the nomination and election process, the same mechanism should be applied for decisions of the Chamber of Parliament by which a member of one of the councils is elected or recalled.

Compliance of public service media council decisions with relevant law is a basic precondition for the proper performance of their function. We therefore propose to introduce the option to review the councils’ decisions by administrative courts. In order to strengthen safeguards against the politicization of the nomination and election process, the same mechanism should be applied for decisions of the Chamber of Parliament by which a member of one of the councils is elected or recalled.

 In order for RRTV to protect market pluralism, it needs qualified councilors. This can be achieved on the one hand by strengthening expertise and on the other hand by increasing political independence. The introduction of qualification criteria for RRTV election nominees will ensure greater expertise.

The possibility of dismissing the council as a whole is dangerous, because it allows for the immediate replacement of all councilors, potentially filling the council with loyalists of the current House majority. The involvement of the Senate would lead to a greater representativeness of the council in relation to the whole Parliament.

At present, RRTV’s capacity is, for the most part, exhausted by activities such as licensing and broadcasting supervision. This was largely justified at the time of creation of the broadcasting law, but with the growing number of channels and the advent of the Internet, this task is becoming unmanageable and less important. Therefore, rather than overseeing individual operators and their programs, the Council should collect data on the media market, promote pluralism and work with self-regulators to develop journalistic ethics.

Mergers between competitors in the media market – even among major players – rarely exceed the turnover threshold of competition law. The involvement of RRTV is appropriate because media pluralism can hardly be simplified to economic criteria alone.

The Council currently devotes the vast majority of its attention to television and radio broadcasting. This is offset by the low level of oversight of on-demand audiovisual media services (ie. streaming and video-sharing platforms).

The Conflict of Interest Act prohibits selected public officials (e.g. deputies, senators, members of the government, etc.) from operating radio and television broadcasts, publishing periodicals, or being a partner, member or otherwise in control of a legal entity that operates these types of media. However, the law does not cover cases where a politician can exercise influence over a medium, even though they do not run it themselves. An example is the transfer of media to a trust. In addition, the operation of online media by a public official is not considered a conflict of interest. At the same time, we consider it important to strengthen the enforcement of the law on conflict of interest.

It is desirable that private media establish self-regulatory bodies and adopt internal codes. This is connected with the need for a transparent and efficient professional association of journalists. In order to facilitate this development, we will provide media with a methodological guideline based on the concept of Media Accountability Instruments. The use of these tools will improve consumers’ trust in media, as well as guarantee the freedom of objective and professional journalism.

The number of regions in the Czech Republic that are not covered by any independent regional medium (so-called media deserts) is growing. The space is filled by “dependent media”, ie. official municipal newspapers or private regional television. These have been traditionally used for promotion of local politicians and they do not give space to criticism. Likewise, private regional television produces most of its content on commission by municipalities and regional administrations. Presently, the public discourse is strongly focused on the quality of nation-wide and public media, and there is a lack of effort to solve the problems associated with the poor coverage quality of regional journalism.

Regional media are not economically sustainable in a market environment affected by the seamless transmission of information via the Internet. However, same as cultural institutions, their positive impact on society is proven. The consequences of the emergence of media deserts – areas without independent regional media – may include, for example, lower election turnout or stronger polarization of society. It is therefore in the public interest to financially support their activities.