Final Word from Thursday, August 15, 2024

The Istanbul Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence didn't pass in the Czech Senate in Jan. because some senators who would have otherwise voted for it thought it was being forced on them by the ODS party leadership. PM Petr Fiala said the lesson from it was that it's better to take one's time and to be patient in passing things. This applies especially to "ethical-ideological matters," he added. Czech TV and Czech Radio might want to keep this in mind as they promote gender-neutral language (hoststvo, diváctvo) as a way to please the nonbinary community and to avoid use of the masculine or feminine form of nouns such as "guest" or "viewer." This comes just as lawmakers are about to decide whether to raise the TV and radio fees and to make virtually all households pay them. By taking a proactive stance on changing the use of the Czech language, the public media risk turning the debate about higher fees into another battle in the culture war. [ Czech Republic Television non-binary host divák divačka user's licensing ]