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(The Guardian) Poland’s new government sacks state TV, radio and news bosses
The new Polish government has gutted the top management of public television, making good on a campaign promise to reform a broadcaster that functioned as a mouthpiece of its rightwing populist predecessor, but also prompting criticism of their methods from some quarters.
The government led by the prime minister, Donald Tusk, was sworn into office last Wednesday. It has promised to launch an ambitious programme to reverse the damage done to rule of law in the country during eight years of government by the nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party.
Under PiS, state media were accused of promoting the party’s policies and launched vicious, personal attacks on opposition figures, and Tusk in particular. “We will need exactly 24 hours to turn the PiS TV back into public TV. Take my word for it,” Tusk said during a campaign rally in early October.
In the end, it has taken his government a week. On Tuesday, the new parliament adopted a resolution calling for the restoration of “impartiality and reliability of the public media”. After the resolution, the new culture minister, Bartłomiej Sienkiewicz, announced that the chairs and boards of state television, news and radio had all been removed.
The vote prompted PiS lawmakers to stage a protest outside the headquarters of TVP, the state broadcaster. “There is no democracy without media pluralism or strong anti-government media, and in Poland these are the public media,” the PiS leader, Jarosław Kaczyński, told reporters at the entrance of the state television building on Tuesday evening, promising that the protest would go on indefinitely.
The TVP 24-hour news service’s regular broadcast was suspended on Wednesday, with only the television logo visible on TV screens.
The new Polish government has gutted the top management of public television, making good on a campaign promise to reform a broadcaster that functioned as a mouthpiece of its rightwing populist predecessor, but also prompting criticism of their methods from some quarters.
The government led by the prime minister, Donald Tusk, was sworn into office last Wednesday. It has promised to launch an ambitious programme to reverse the damage done to rule of law in the country during eight years of government by the nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party.
Under PiS, state media were accused of promoting the party’s policies and launched vicious, personal attacks on opposition figures, and Tusk in particular. “We will need exactly 24 hours to turn the PiS TV back into public TV. Take my word for it,” Tusk said during a campaign rally in early October.
In the end, it has taken his government a week. On Tuesday, the new parliament adopted a resolution calling for the restoration of “impartiality and reliability of the public media”. After the resolution, the new culture minister, Bartłomiej Sienkiewicz, announced that the chairs and boards of state television, news and radio had all been removed.
The vote prompted PiS lawmakers to stage a protest outside the headquarters of TVP, the state broadcaster. “There is no democracy without media pluralism or strong anti-government media, and in Poland these are the public media,” the PiS leader, Jarosław Kaczyński, told reporters at the entrance of the state television building on Tuesday evening, promising that the protest would go on indefinitely.
The TVP 24-hour news service’s regular broadcast was suspended on Wednesday, with only the television logo visible on TV screens.
