2015, the year when the populist Law and Justice Party (PiS) came to power Poland, In the annual World Press Freedom Index of Reporters Without Borders (RSF), the country ranks 18th out of 164 countries, which is the highest ranking ever.
To this year It has fallen to its lowest position ever, at 64th place, and continues to decline every year, slightly lower than Malawi and Armenia, 62nd and 63rd, and slightly higher than Bhutan and Ivory Coast. RSF classifies it as ” has a problem”.
PiS-led government’s new Media Act, Which would prohibit companies outside the European Economic Area from owning a majority stake in any TV channel, in which case it is widely seen as an attempt to silence the country’s largest independent broadcaster.
TVN’s broadcasting often criticizes the government. It is owned by the American Discovery Group. If the bill is passed, the group will have to sell most of its shares.
This move is only the latest in a continuous, three-pronged attack on Polish media freedom shortly after PiS’s victory in the 2015 election, when the ruling party legislated Give yourself direct control The public broadcaster TVP abolished senior managers and handed the appointment to the minister.
since then, Radical partisan news report Has become the norm. An analysis of TVP’s flagship evening news program in 2019 found that on the eve of the European Union elections, 69 of the 105 items in the polls focused on PiS, of which 68 were positive and one was neutral. All 33 items about the opposition are negative.
Another study found that TVP systematically portrays the ruling party positively, often using words such as “reform”, “sovereignty”, “strong”, “hero” and “patriotic”, while projects related to the opposition use “shocking “, “scandal”, “provocation” and “coup”.
RSF also found a deviation in coverage Last year’s presidential election, The state media publicly “supported President Andrzej Duda’s successful re-election campaign” while “doing his best to discredit his main rival.” Rafael Tzaskovsky was accused of being a “powerful foreign country.” Lobbying groups” work and seek to “fulfil Jewish obligations”. need”.
PiS believes that the party’s control of TVP is a necessary and proportionate response to its claim that the wider media environment is biased towards its liberal opponents, and pointed out the fact that many private media organizations are foreign-owned.
This has led the government to persistently “re-monopolize” the private media policy, including through the acquisition of government-friendly state-owned companies, insisting that the policy is in the national interest.
Earlier this year, Poland’s largest state-owned oil giant Orlen, Purchased Polska Press, The country’s largest local media owner, owns hundreds of local newspapers and websites, and is the German majority shareholder from Polska.
Independent media have also become targets in other ways, such as proposing a “solidarity” tax of 2% to 15% on advertising revenue. The government says these plans will help raise public funds for healthcare and culture, but TV and radio stations say it will threaten their survival.
Brief introduction of commercial TV channels, radio stations and portals Off air in February In protest of the tax proposal, Reporters Without Borders described it as “another step in the government’s censorship strategy”, which may “end” media organizations whose finances have been weakened by the pandemic.
Finally, the Polish police were accused of failing to protect journalists reporting anti-government protests, using violence and arbitrary arrests-including in Mass demonstrations against strict new abortion laws – Further intimidate journalists, thereby restricting the public’s access to free and fair information.
