Media Freedom in Focus: The state of Poland’s public service media

On 15 October 2023, Poland held parliamentary elections which signaled the end of the eight years in power of the right-wing conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party. In December, the PiS-led government was replaced by a liberal, opposition-led coalition.

Media freedom, and in particular the situation at Poland’s public service media, was one of the first issues tackled by the new government within days of taking office, as the cabinet led by Donald Tusk immediately sought to wrestle control of public media away from the outgoing PiS-led coalition. This included public television (TVP), Polish Radio as well as Poland’s national news agency PAP.

One of the first acts of the new government was to change the leadership of the public media by adopting a parliamentary resolution which declared the situation at public media as illegitimate and unconstitutional before calling on the authorities to take immediate action to restore the constitutional order and the “independence, objectivity and pluralism” of public media. In response, the minister of culture intervened  by replacing the members of the supervisory boards and senior management of the TVP, Polish Radio and PAP.

In doing so the government by-passed the National Media Council (NMC) set up in 2016 by PiS to nominate senior PSM management and supervisors.

This led to three weeks of protests led by PiS politicians and some TVP staff on the premises of Telewizia Polska and a political standoff between the government and Poland’s President, Andrzej Duda, who tried to block the changes by rejecting the 2024 budget for the public media.

Without funding the situation quickly became untenable and the then Minister of Culture,  Bartłomiej Sienkiewicz, placed the public media into a state of liquidation, a legal status for entities without sufficient funds to operate, which enabled the ministry to continue to finance the PSM directly until new reforms can be agreed.

Nearly one year later, the legal uncertainty persists with public service media staff forced to work in a form of legal limbo without the security of guaranteed financing nor a management that has been appointed through an independent and transparent process.

Summary:

In this podcast episode, host Karol Łuczka speaks with Kamila Ceran, the editor-in-chief of Radio TOK FM, and with Robert Kwiatkowski, a member of the National Media Council in Poland, about the current state of public media in Poland. Łuczka, Ceran and Kwiatkowski discuss the significant changes in media freedom following the recent government transition, the ongoing political influence on public media, and the challenges of achieving true media independence. Ceran shares her insights on the politicization of media, the implications of funding, and the lack of shining examples of independent public media globally. Kwiatkowski shares insights on the role of the National Media Council and the future vision for public media, emphasizing the need for legal clarity and independence from political influence. The conversation concludes with reflections on the future of media in Poland and the complexities surrounding public funding.

Takeaways:

• There is an improvement in quality of reporting and objectivity.
• Public media in Poland has faced significant politicization.
• The future of public media depends on upcoming presidential elections.
• Media independence has been a challenge for decades in Poland.
• The financing of public media is crucial for stability.
• Legal reforms are necessary for media independence.
• The situation of public media in Poland has dramatically changed since the government transition.
• Funding for public media is often controlled by politicians, affecting independence.
• The media landscape in Poland is challenging, with limited options for unbiased reporting.
• Public media do not fulfill their intended role of unbiased information dissemination.
• There is no clear solution for ensuring media independence in Poland.

 

Guests: Kamila Ceran, editor-in-chief of TOK FM and Robert Kwiatkowski, member of Poland's National Media Council

Producer and Host: Karol Łuczka, Eastern Europe Monitoring and Advocacy Officer at International Press Institute (IPI)

Editor: Javier Luque, head of digital communications at IPI

Other episodes in this series:

MFRR Podcast: Navigating Hungary’s new Sovereignty Protection Act

Related links:

More ambitious reform needed to secure media freedom in Poland

MFRR In Focus: How will the takeover of Polska Press in Poland impact the upcoming election?