Poland's new government has dismissed the entire management of the public media
Poland's new pro-European government has dismissed the entire management of the public media. The decision affects the CEOs and supervisory boards of TVP, Polish Radio and the PAP news agency, the Ministry of Culture in Warsaw announced on Wednesday. New supervisory boards have already been appointed and will elect new board members.
The restructuring and reorientation of the content of public broadcasting is one of the priorities of Donald Tusk's government. It accuses the media of spreading party propaganda over the past eight years under the national-conservative PiS government.
On Tuesday evening, parliament 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 party 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.
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 they had "completely transformed into a propaganda arm of the ruling PiS" and participated in the vilification of its critics.
Read also:
- Year of climate records: extreme is the new normal
- Precautionary arrests show Islamist terror threat
- UN vote urges Israel to ceasefire
- SPD rules out budget resolution before the end of the year
The international community has expressed concerns over the biased coverage of the Polish public media under the PiS government. Following the new government's appointment, the dismissal of the entire management of TVP, Polish Radio, and PAP news agency is seen as a step towards restoring impartiality in public broadcasting.
Source: www.ntv.de
