Polish Government approves bill to transform public media and renew leadership, sparking protests and international concern

This content was published on December 20, 2023 – 11:49 December 20, 2023 – 11:49

Krakow (Poland), Dec 20 (EFE).- The Polish Government approved a bill that will transform the public media and renew its leadership, which it accuses of being politicized and having carried out propaganda for years.

The profound changes, already announced by Prime Minister Donald Tusk during his election campaign, seek to “quickly clean up” the state media and liquidate public television (TVP), which has not been allocated funds in the general budgets of the the next year.

As a protest against this measure, a group of deputies from the previous Government spent the night at the TVP headquarters in Warsaw and from today the broadcasts of that channel show black crepes and posters with anti-government messages are inserted in all the programs.

During the last two terms in office, in which Tusk was in opposition, state television news programs repeatedly attacked him, calling him a “German agent”, accusing him of being a “traitor to Poland” and calling him a “slave of the Kremlin”.

In a statement today, the Polish Ministry of Culture reported the dismissal of dozens of TVP employees with immediate effect.

On the other hand, the Polish Audit Office announced today the opening of proceedings against the directors of TVP for mismanagement, actions to the detriment of its assets and the unjustified exposure of this organization to financial losses, as well as abuse of power.

In a post-election analysis after the electoral victory of the Tusk coalition over the previous Government, the Office for Democracy of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (ODIHR) certified that the TVP “benefited the Government party and presented its policies as positive, while exhibiting open hostility towards the opposition.

According to Reporters Without Borders, the information landscape in Poland has deteriorated repeatedly since the previous government came to power in 2015, a period in which the country fell from 18th to 57th place in the world ranking of press freedom.

Similar changes are expected to take place in other state-owned companies, such as National Radio and the national news agency PAP, in the coming days. EFE

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2023-12-21 04:18:18
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