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Poland's culture ministry announced on Wednesday the dismissal of managers of public television, radio and news agencies, with the aim of restoring “the impartiality and reliability of public media” after the end of the party's long semi-authoritarian rule and justice.
The managers of the public television TVP, the radio Polskie Radio and the public press agency Polska Agencja Prasowa (PAP) were fired: all media that, according to the government, had become the main propaganda tools of law and justice in recent years, that of 2015 until last October, turning Poland into a semi-authoritarian country, with severe restrictions on the independence of the judiciary and the media and drastic restrictions on the civil rights of women, minorities and foreigners.
On Wednesday itself, TVP's newscasts were suspended following the government's announcement. Poland's new pro-European and center-right Prime Minister Donald Tusk, for years the main opposition leader of the Law and Justice government, said during the election campaign that he wanted to turn Poland's state media into a source of “reliable information.” : The layoffs were announced following the adoption on Tuesday of a resolution to restore objectivity, independence and pluralism in public media.
In response to the adoption of the resolution, some Law and Justice MPs organized a protest in front of the TVP headquarters in Warsaw, accusing Tusk and the government he leads of attacking the Polish democratic system and media pluralism. The demonstration lasted all night from Tuesday to Wednesday and another one was organized on Wednesday.
In the elections last October, the opposition parties won with a result that exceeded expectations and a rather extraordinary development against “Law and Justice”: the opposition's victory was not only surprising, but also particularly important because it took place in an openly political climate It was won with hostility and thanks to great participation from the population: the voter turnout in the end was 72.9 percent, the highest in the country's democratic history.
Reforming the Polish media system is one of the main goals of this government, along with other goals related to the justice system, security and rights. After coming to power in 2015, the Law and Justice Government, led by former Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, had gradually restricted freedom of information and introduced a series of measures to control the public media, restrict their freedom of action and force their ruling class to act in their favor favorable sense to select the government.
Over the past eight years, Polish public media run by people close to the government have been accused several times of providing partial information consistent with government propaganda and acting as a platform for attacks on the opposition.