Poland’s lawmakers approve new law on state media control

Since it came to power in October, after securing enough votes to govern alone, the PiS has repeatedly sought to overhaul the state media, reportedly accusing the broadcasters of being biased against it and of promoting “an unbearable excess of entertainment content”.

In a joint statement, Reporters Without Borders, the European Broadcasting Union, the European Federation of Journalists and the Association of European Journalists said they were “outraged by the proposed bill, hastily introduced by the majority party in Poland”.

Worldwide media rights organisations poured scorn on the proposals.

The law makes broadcasters TVP and Polish Radio “national cultural institutes” and removes the current directors, to be replaced by new executives which can be appointed by the government.

The legislation gives the government the authority to appoint heads of the state-run radio and TV, limits the number of supervisory board members and terminates the terms of the current management, appointed by the previous establishment.

“It is vital that public service broadcasters are guarded against any attempts of political or commercial influence”.

The move comes just days after President Andrzej Duda signed into law a controversial amendment to the functions and composition of the country’s top constitutional court.

Warsaw Voice Website reported that opposition parties stressed that the new legislation threatens media independence and freedom of expression and is part of PiS plan to take control of the public media.

The Polish government will present a major media reform in March or April aiming to change the media model in the European Union country.

Poland’s lower house of parliament, the Sejm, already approved the media law on Wednesday, according to Polish press agency PAP.

The Polish opposition said that with the new legislation the conservatives had simply seized power over the country’s public media.