Ostrava theaters back Czech Television and Czech Radio publicly

Theaters in Ostrava have spoken out publicly against the government's plans for public media. At the National Moravian-Silesian Theatre (NDM), actors interrupted their bows after a premiere and read out a statement: the Chamber of Deputies had just approved the abolition of fees for Czech Television and Czech Radio.

The actors reacted sharply to remarks by the speaker of the chamber, Tomio Okamura, who said it was supposedly immoral to pay for something people do not use and which, moreover, works against their interests. “But the media do not exist to bend the truth to the interests of officials in power. Especially officials who demonstrably and repeatedly lie,” said actor Tomáš Jirman. Jan Fišar added that paying for important things you do not use yourself is, on the contrary, highly moral and lies at the foundation of all society.

“Healthy, young people pay for hospitals and for care for the wounded, the sick and the old. People with jobs pay unemployment benefits. The rich pay for social support they will never need. Those without a car pay for road construction. And people who have never been to Uherský Brod pay through their taxes for public transport in Uherský Brod,” the actors read in a joint statement.

“We hope that with tonight's premiere we have signaled to everyone: if we entrust democracy to those who wish it ill, we can easily lose it,” Jirman added.

Later, the theater posted a video of the interrupted bows on its official Facebook profile with the caption: “We express our full support for public media. We do not want to bring democracy to a dictatorship of mediocrity.”

Other Ostrava theaters join in

Other Ostrava theaters had published similar statements a few hours earlier. “Free culture needs free media. We support independent Czech Television and Czech Radio,” wrote the Petr Bezruč Theatre.

“A healthy democratic society needs independent public media. Our theater also condemns the current political attack on Czech Television and Czech Radio and expresses solidarity with their staff,” the Arena Chamber Stage said on social media.

Other public cultural institutions are gradually joining the protest. “The Puppet Theatre of Ostrava expresses its full support for the staff of Czech Television and Czech Radio,” it wrote on Facebook.

Around Prague, based on reporting by ostravan.cz