Comparsion of control boards and financing of the public broadcasters in the Czech Republic and Austria

This bachelor thesis focuses on the financing and broadcasting councils of the public service broadcasters in Austria and the Czech Republic, examining namely Austrian Broadcasting (Österreichischer Rundfunk) and Czech Television (Česká televize) along with Czech Radio (Český rozhlas). These institutions are often at the center of controversy due to their level of dependence on local political representatives. Their critics argue that they submit to political pressure and give up one of their main purposes - providing an objective, independent, unbiased, and balanced news service. The independence of public service broadcasters generally relies on stable, predictable funding and impartial supervision. For this reason, these two features are analyzed in this paper. More specifically, it examines how the aforementioned media are financed, how the broadcasting councils are appointed, and how the status quo interacts with the local political culture. On top of that, the discussion involves international recommendations of institutions such as the European Council, the European Union and UNESCO. This thesis makes use of the synchronous comparative methodological approach. At first the situation in each country is analyzed and subsequently compared to one another. This paper provides an overview over the..