Police stand outside a television building, as protesters and “Law and Justice” politicians gather after the new culture minister fired the head of Poland’s public television, radio and news agency PAP in Warsaw, Poland.
Police stand outside the television building as protesters and Law and Justice politicians gather inside the headquarters after the management of Polish public television, radio and news agency PAP have been dismissed by new culture minister in Warsaw, Poland, December 20, 2023. Dawid Zuchowicz/Agencja Wyborcza.pl via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS – THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. POLAND OUT. NO COMMERCIAL OR EDITORIAL SALES IN POLAND.
23:00, 20 December 2023
Poland’s new government announced on Wednesday that the management of several public media outlets is being dismissed. The chairmen and boards of public television, radio and news agencies have been dismissed, the Ministry of Culture announced, explaining the move by the need to restore the objectivity of these media.
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Shortly after this announcement, the regular broadcast of the state news channel TVP was stopped and only the television logo was visible on the television screens. The website of the news channel ‘TVP Info’ was also suspended.
The new ruling coalition adopted a resolution on Tuesday calling for the restoration of “the objectivity and credibility of public media”. After this vote, members of the nationally conservative party “Law and Justice” (PiS), which has ruled until now, held a sit-in protest in the television buildings.
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Piotrs Glinskis, the Minister of Culture of the previous government, described the changes in the management of public media as illegal. “This is clearly an attack on free media, it is a violation of the law,” the former minister told the AFP news agency.
The former opposition, which has now come to power, accused the PiS government of trying to silence independent media and limit freedom of expression. Critics also criticize that during the years of PiS rule, the public media have become mouthpieces of the government.
In the Polish parliamentary elections on October 15, the previous opposition led by Donald Tusk won an absolute majority. PiS, which was in power since 2015, lost its majority in the parliament in these elections.
After the change in the management of public media, PiS leader Jaroslav Kaczynski was seen entering the state television building. Kaczynski told reporters on Tuesday evening that “there is no democracy without media pluralism or strong anti-government media, and in Poland it is public media.” He said that PiS politicians will continue the protest, changing the order of rotation.
Former Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, who was also present at the state television building, said that a new leadership is being imposed on television, which “is the first step towards a dictatorship.”
A reporter from the AFP news agency observed on Wednesday that policemen were also entering the television building.
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In 2020, the international journalists’ rights organization Reporters Without Borders (RSF) stated that Polish state-owned media have been turned into government propaganda mouthpieces that lack objectivity and spread hate speech. In the report on 2023, RSF stated that the PiS government “has stepped up attempts to change the editorial line of private media and control information on sensitive topics”.
The last seconds of TVP Info [*] pic.twitter.com/yNdOMpfqSC
— J.E. gromota (@gromotapl) December 20, 2023
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2023-12-20 21:10:50
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