Poland: Public media leadership dismissed

New government - Poland: Public media leadership dismissed

Anyone who wanted to watch the news on Polish public broadcaster TVP on Wednesday was disappointed: instead of the program, there was only a placeholder with the logo and a poinsettia. The news channel TVP Info and its internet portal were even completely switched off. This was not a technical glitch: Donald Tusk 's new pro-European government has begun a major overhaul of the public media.

Culture Minister Bartlomiej Sienkiewicz fired the entire management of the public broadcasters in one fell swoop. The decision affects the CEOs and supervisory boards of TVP, Polish Radio and the PAP news agency, his ministry announced. New supervisory boards have already been appointed and will elect new board members.

The restructuring of public broadcasting is one of the Tusk government's priorities. It accuses the media of spreading party propaganda over the past eight years under the national-conservative PiS government. Particular attention is being paid to TVP, popularly known as "TVPiS". Several international organizations have also criticized the one-sided reporting in the public media.

On Tuesday evening, parliament had already passed a resolution to "restore the legality and impartiality" of the public media. It stated that these media had lost their legal mandate to provide reliable and impartial information and had become partisan media. The Ministry of Culture and the Ministry for State Participation, which is involved in the broadcasters via ownership bodies, must now take corrective action.

One-sided reporting criticized

In the election on October 15, a three-party alliance of the former opposition led by Tusk won the government majority. The PiS, which had been in power since 2015, lost power.

International organizations had criticized the public media's one-sided coverage of the election campaign. A report by the European Center for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF), which is mainly funded by the EU Commission, stated that these had "completely transformed into a propaganda arm of the ruling PiS" and participated in the vilification of its critics.

The OSCE election observer mission complained that the public broadcaster had "clearly favored the PiS in its reporting and at the same time displayed open hostility towards the opposition". Socio-political events were consistently presented in a distorted and openly partisan manner.

Among many PiS opponents in the population, TVP Info in particular became an object of hatred. After a presenter on the channel described Tusk as "red-haired and mean", many participants wore red-haired wigs at a large demonstration against the PiS during the election campaign.

The PiS called for the defense of TVP and freedom of the press. On Tuesday evening after the parliament's decision, several MPs rushed to the station's broadcasting center, including party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski. Some MPs were still there on Wednesday. However, the call was not echoed by PiS supporters. The police finally cordoned off the area in front of the radio station.