跟进：捷克数万人布拉格集会抗议公共媒体经费改革：反对者指法案削弱媒体独立
据路透社11月15日报道，数以万计的捷克人周日在布拉格集会，抗议政府一项削减公共媒体经费的计划：该计划拟取消现行广播收视费、把公共媒体经费改由国家预算承担，批评者说这会损害广播机构的独立性与生存能力。
集会在俯瞰布拉格的 Letna 公园举行，舞台前方区域很快挤满人群，附近地铁站也被抗议者堵住。不少人戴着用报纸折成的尖顶帽，向捷克电视台几十年来每晚儿童睡前故事节目的动画角色致敬。集会赶在 11 月 17 日假期前夕：这一天纪念 1989 年天鹅绒革命推翻共产党统治、把持不同政见剧作家 Vaclav Havel 推上台。
反对党把 10 月提交的这项法案与匈牙利前总理 Viktor Orban 时期的改革相提并论，Orban 任内建起了一批亲政府媒体。法案拟取消每户每月 205 克朗（约 9.26 美元）的广播费，已经过初步表决、等待进一步辩论。配套的经费削减幅度约为 15%，媒体方面说，这会把电视的名义预算压回 2008 年水平、广播压回 2005 年水平，根本无法维持。
现政府由亿万富翁总理 Andrej Babis 领导，得到极右翼的自由与直接民主党（SPD）和疑欧派 Motorists 党支持，指责私营与公共媒体带有偏见。Babis 说，政府只是在兑现减轻民众负担的承诺。捷克公共电视与广播的员工本月早些时候已举行过一天罢工，广播一度受限，罢工得到艺术家与学生声援。
关联：捷克执政联盟凌晨投票推进公共媒体改革：取消广播收视费、经费改由国家预算承担，独立性争议发酵
Follow-Up: Tens of Thousands of Czechs Rally in Prague Against Government Media Funding Plan
Tens of thousands of Czechs protested in Prague on Sunday against a government plan to cut a public media fee and move funding to the state budget, a policy critics say would dent the broadcasters' independence and viability, Reuters reported.
The front section near the stage in Letna park overlooking the Czech capital filled quickly as protesters clogged nearby metro stations. Many wore pointed hats folded out of newspapers, a tribute to an animated character who has introduced Czech Television's nightly children's bedtime stories for decades. Local authorities had estimated hundreds of thousands would attend the rally days before the November 17 holiday commemorating the 1989 Velvet Revolution.
Opposition parties compared the proposals in an October bill to changes in Hungary under former Prime Minister Viktor Orban. The coalition backs a bill that would cancel a 205-crown ($9.26) monthly household broadcasting fee currently used for funding; the bill has passed a preliminary vote and awaits further debate. Critics say the funding shift to the budget would undercut the media's relationship with paying viewers and make the sector susceptible to political pressure. A 15% financing cut proposed as part of the change would bring television's nominal budget to the level of 2008 and radio's to 2005, which media say is unworkable.
The populist government of billionaire Prime Minister Andrej Babis, backed by the far-right SPD and eurosceptic Motorists parties, accuses private and public media of bias. Babis says the government is merely meeting a promise to lighten the financial burden on people. Czech public television and radio workers escalated the fight with a one-day strike earlier in November that led to broadcast curbs and protests backed by artists and students.
来源：路透社
发布：GSM·美国（发布链接）
图片来源：图：从查理大桥望向布拉格城堡与伏尔塔瓦河（资料图）。照片：Pudelek，CC BY-SA 3.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: Prague Castle and the Vltava river seen from Charles Bridge, Prague (file photo). Photo by Pudelek, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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