Poland's Culture Ministry announced on Wednesday, December 20, that it had fired the leadership team of the state media, widely seen as an offshoot of the former populist government. The president and board members of the state television, radio and press agency “have been dismissed,” the ministry said in a statement.
State media, controlled by the populist nationalist Law and Justice party (PiS), is regularly accused of spreading biased information, spreading government propaganda and launching verbal attacks against the opposition.
On Tuesday, the new ruling coalition had parliament pass a resolution calling for the “restoration of the rule of law, impartiality and credibility of the public media,” as quoted in the minister's press release.
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Former Culture Minister Piotr Glinski considered these steps “illegal”. “This is obviously an attack on the free media, it is a violation of the law,” he said.
State television premises occupied
Polish nationalist populists occupied the premises of public television on the night of Tuesday to Wednesday to defend “media pluralism”. “There is no democracy without media pluralism or strong anti-government media, and in Poland it is the public media,” PiS leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski said overnight. “We want to ensure that there is a legal order in Poland and that the media remains free,” added MP Marek Suski (PiS) on Wednesday.
The PiS, which was in power for eight years, lost power after parliamentary elections in October. The coalition led by the pro-European Donald Tusk took the reins of the country and promised to reform state television and radio.
The previous government was repeatedly accused by the pro-European opposition and non-governmental organizations of restricting media freedom while funneling significant resources to state media. In its 2020 report, the organization Reporters Without Borders emphasized that these were “partisan statements and incitement to hatred.” [étaient] still the norm in public media [polonais]who were turned into mouthpieces for government propaganda.”
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