Polish Culture Minister to Liquidate State Media Outlets

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Facts

  • Polish Culture Minister Bartlomiej Sienkiewicz announced Wednesday that he will liquidate all public media, which consists of Telewizja Polska SA, Polskie Radio SA, and Polska Agencja Prasowa SA. He said his decision would 'carry out the necessary restructuring and prevent layoffs of employees.'1
  • This follows the Culture Minister's decision last week to take the 24-hour public news station, TVP Info, off the air and fire the boards of all public media. In response, the Law and Justice (PiS) party called the move 'illegal' and held sit-in protests. On Wednesday, Pres. Andrzej Duda, a member of PiS, then vetoed a 3B zloty (roughly $766M) public media funding bill.2
  • Liquidation doesn't mean public broadcasters will be dissolved, with Sienkiewicz stating that his policy will 'ensure the continued operation of these companies.' He also said the liquidation process can be revoked at any time.1
  • The pro-EU government under newly-elected Prime Minister Donald Tusk said his media overhaul seeks to restore unbiased public media after eight years of conservative control. However, members of PiS, like parliamentarian Joanna Lichocka, say Tusk is 'destroying the Polish media' and silencing conservative voices. Pres. Duda argues the government's media policies also violate the Constitution.3
  • On the other side, critics of PiS, like the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights, claim public media needed to be reformed after eight years of being a 'propaganda mouthpiece' of the former PiS government. The rights groups, however, also acknowledged that the way such reform has been conducted under Tusk 'raises serious doubts.'2

Sources: 1Dw.Com, 2BBC News and 3The Telegraph.

Narratives

  • Left narrative, as provided by PBS NewsHour. Though Donald Tusk won the hearts of Poland's majority through his message of unity and reinstating democratic norms, the PiS is still trying to dismantle his agenda through biased conservative news coverage. The PiS has long used public media to propagate xenophobic and homophobic disinformation, and they're hoping to continue to leverage their media control ahead of next year's local and European Parliament elections.
  • Right narrative, as provided by Europeanconservative. While the European establishment claims Poland was under a corrupt conservative media regime, the truth is that TVP was the last place Polish citizens could find any conservative commentary. As soon as he entered office, Tusk began firing virtually every right-leaning pundit in the name of 'restoring democracy.' Tusk, at the behest of his European Parliament masters, also began reshaping the judiciary to push the establishment's agenda. The previous TVP was fighting for free speech and democracy; Tusk is destroying it.

Predictions