Final Word from Wednesday, January 4, 2023

The cabinet's envoy for combatting disinformation, Michal Klíma, and others who work under PM Petr Fiala at the cabinet office are proposing as part of an "Action Plan for Countering Disinformation" to pay Kč 100m per year to "independent media" and Kč 50m to NGOs that help in the fight. This is a rather hard sell at a time of record-high budget deficits and the need for an ever-wider social net to fulfil the government's promise of not letting anyone "go under." The U.S. government is also worried about what's going on on the internet and included $75m in funding in its 2023 defense budget for the Defense Dept. and USAID and $49m for the Agency for Global Media (which oversees Radio Free Europe) for promoting internet freedom in countries that are of importance to the national interest of the U.S. (see Sect. 9707, starting on Page 1521). There is a requirement, though, that the money for this purpose be targeted at countries "whose governments restrict freedom of expression on the internet." Which raises the question of whether the Czech government should apply for the funding, or the Czech opposition. [ Czech Republic USAGM nonprofit organizations ]