MFRR in Focus: The battle over the future of Poland’s politicized public media

A battle is currently underway for the future of Poland’s
politicized public media. Since the election of the new coalition
government led by Prime Minister Donald Tusk in October 2023, the
public television TVP has faced drastic reforms.


The new Minister of Culture moved quickly to enact changes at
TVP, Polish Radio and the state news agency, which had to
different levels been converted into media arms of the former
ruling party, Law and Justice.


After promising swift action during the campaign, the new pro-EU
government temporarily took a news channel off the air, abruptly
dismissed the supervisory bodies of TVP and the news agency, and
more recently put the public media into liquidation.


While the Tusk administration has defended these moves as
necessary to restore impartiality and dismantle the unethical and
biased output of TVP, the former ruling party has criticized the
changes as undemocratic and aimed at cementing a new form of
political control.


While it’s clear that major reforms were urgently needed to
Poland’s public media, there are questions about whether the
means used to do so are democratic, legal and truly aimed at
increasing pluralistic coverage, rather than simply perpetuating
the cycle of politicization after elections that has
characterized public media for decades.


Guests: Daniel Tilles, Editor-in-Chief at Notes From Poland


Producer and Host: Jamie Wiseman, Europe Advocacy Officer at
International Press Institute (IPI)


Editor: Javier Luque, Head of Digital Communications at IPI


Other episodes in this series:


Navigating Hungary’s Sovereignty Protection Act - Media Freedom
In Focus


Related links:


Poland: MFRR reasserts recommendations for democratic reform for
press freedom and public media


Upheaval at Polish public broadcaster must lead to comprehensive
reform to restore and safeguard independence