Czech Radio (CRo)

Czech Radio (Český rozhlas, CRo) is the public radio broadcaster in Czechia. It has been in operation since 1923, making it the oldest radio station in continental Europe and the second oldest in Europe after the BBC. The station operates four nationwide services (Radiožurnál, Dvojka, Vltava, and Plus), 14 regional channels, and an international service in foreign languages aimed at audiences outside the country.

Media assets

Radio: National- Radiožurnál, Dvojka, Vltava, Plus, ČRo Radio Wave, ČRo D-Dur, ČRo Jazz, ČRo Rádio Junior, ČRo Rádio Retro; International- Radio Prague International; Regional- ČRo Brno, ČRo České Budějovice, ČRo Hradec Králové, ČRo Karlovy Vary, ČRo Liberec, ČRo Olomouc, ČRo Ostrava, ČRo Pardubice, ČRo Plzeň, ČRo Rádio DAB Praha, ČRo Střední Čechy, ČRo Vysočina, ČRo Sever, ČRo Zlín

State Media Matrix Typology

Captured Public/State-Managed (CaPu)

Ownership and governance

Czech Radio is governed in the same fashion as Czech Television. It was established through the Czech Radio Act of 1991 as a public corporation tasked with providing independent public-service radio and is accountable to the public, not the state. Its primary governing body is the Czech Radio Council, composed of nine members appointed, following a law amendment in 2023, by the Chamber of Deputies (six) and the Senate (three), based on nominations from civil society organizations. Importantly, politicians and public officeholders are barred from serving on the council.

A Supervisory Commission, comprising five members elected by the Council, oversees financial performance and reports any issues. The Council also appoints the Director General. René Zavoral is the station’s general director, having been re-elected for a second term beginning 21 January 2022.

Source of funding and budget

Czech Radio is funded by a license fee paid by Czech households, alongside limited commercial revenues as allowed by law.

An annual report from Czech Radio shows that, in 2022, that the broadcaster operated with a total budget of CZK 2.2bn. The license fee accounted for over 92% of the budget, with the remainder coming from commercial revenues, primarily from the sale of advertisements. The law limits the amount of time Czech Radio can use to broadcast commercials. By law, households were required to pay a fee of CZK 45 (US$ 2) per month to support the country’s public radio.

In 2024, the budget rose to CZK 2.36 billion (€94 million), with license fees accounting for over 86% of revenues. For 2025, the Czech Radio Council approved a balanced budget of CZK 2.358 billion, slightly lower than the updated 2024 budget. No salary indexation or fee adjustment is foreseen, even amid high inflation; all 25 stations’ operations are fully covered. The current CZK 45 monthly fee is assumed, pending hopeful legislative stabilization via the so-called “big media amendment.” 

In April 2025, the Czech Parliament and Senate approved the so-called “big media amendment” (velká mediální novela), a reform of the Czech Television Act and Czech Radio Act that came into force on 1 May 2025, which modernized the funding framework for the country’s public broadcasters. Czech Radio similarly benefits from the new funding model. Its monthly license fee increased from CZK 45 to CZK 55, the first adjustment in more than 15 years. The law expanded the obligation to pay the fee to all households with internet-enabled devices, phones, tablets, and computers, reflecting the shift to digital listening. Commercial revenues remain tightly regulated, with stricter limits on advertising across ČRo websites and apps. Like ČT, ČRo will now also enter into memoranda with the Ministry of Culture, outlining its public-service obligations and use of resources. The automatic inflation-adjustment clause is especially significant for ČRo, whose revenues are smaller than ČT’s, offering long-term financial predictability and reducing reliance on one-off government subsidies.

Editorial independence

Czech Radio’s editorial agenda is not subject to obligations imposed by state authorities that would undermine its independence. The broadcaster operates under statutes and legal safeguards designed to protect its autonomy, and these remain a cornerstone of its public service mandate. While politicians and state bodies occasionally attempt to exert pressure or influence coverage, such efforts have generally failed to compromise editorial decision-making. In practice, Czech Radio journalists have often resisted political interference, maintaining a strong professional ethos and defending the institution’s editorial integrity.

In recent years, however, growing concerns have emerged over censorship and internal editorial pressures. A widely discussed case involved the planned broadcast of an advertisement for the new media outlet Forum Weekly. Although the ad had been approved, Czech Radio management, acting on legal advice, intervened to remove a description of Forum Weekly as a publication “independent of billionaires.” Management justified the decision by labelling the phrase a “subjective assessment.” The move, however, was seen as unprecedented editorial interference in promotional material and raised serious questions about the boundaries of autonomy in a free media market.

Another controversial episode concerned a podcast commissioned by Czech Radio that investigated shortcomings in the Czech justice system. Despite being planned years earlier, the program was never aired. Reports suggested that some managers within the broadcaster had personal or professional ties to individuals implicated in the investigation, and may have acted to protect those interests. Further controversy arose when the station collaborated with a crime expert whose credibility had been directly challenged in the podcast’s findings. This chain of events ultimately led to the publication of an academic article scrutinizing the case as an example of censorship within Czech Radio.

To reinforce independence, the broadcaster operates under the Czech Radio Code, a binding internal regulation that sets out obligations for all editorial staff. The Czech Radio Council, as the main oversight body, can recommend editorial or structural changes, though implementation remains at the discretion of the Director General. Additionally, Czech Radio has established an Ethics Commission, an advisory body to the CEO, whose role is to review the broadcaster’s work from ethical and legal perspectives. The Commission consists of five members appointed and dismissed by the CEO, usually drawn from diverse professional backgrounds. Its Secretary is the Czech Radio Ombudsman, ensuring that audience concerns and ethical standards are integrated into decision-making.

Despite recent governance and funding reforms introduced by the 2025 big media amendment and the absence of new censorship cases, Czech Radio remains categorized as Captured Public/State-Managed (CaPu). While its legal safeguards and financial stability have improved, past editorial controversies and the continuing risk of political influence through council appointments justify maintaining this classification, with the caveat that ČRo’s trajectory is positive and could support a future upgrade to Independent Public (IP) if reforms consolidate.

September 2025