Will the attack on the free media in Poland succeed, or fail?
Polish journalist, broadcaster and author, Jacek Pałasiński takes an in depth look at the situation, exclusively for BFMI.
"LEX TVN"
On July 7 2021, a group of 22 MPs from the Poland’s ruling Catholic nationalist Law and Justice party submitted to the Sejm (the Polish parliament) a draft amendment to the Broadcasting Act. Particularly controversial was the amendment to Article 35 which stated that a broadcasting licenses could only be granted to those television stations in which the share of foreign capital is less than 49%, unless it belongs to companies from the European Economic Area. This provision directly hit the TVN television station, which is 100% owned by the American company Discovery inc. Formally TVN is owned by Polish Television Holding BV, a company registered in the Netherlands, however this is wholly controlled by Discovery.
The draft amendment was immediately dubbed "Lex TVN" by the public and the media.
WHAT IS TVN?
TVN provides entertainment, but once a day it broadcasts the country's most popular evening news service "Fakty" ('Facts'), which respects the principles of journalistic independence and integrity.
TVN group includes several other channels, including TVN24, the most popular program in Poland and the most-watched private news channel in Europe. TVN24 is an independent station that is often critical of governments, regardless of whether they are to the left or the right of the political spectrum. In Poland, there are strict regulations on airtime parity for various political opinions which TVN24 has always scrupulously followed. More than a year ago, TVN24 applied to the National Broadcasting Council - the national radio and television regulator - for an extension of their concession, which is to expire at the beginning of 2022. However, the regulator, which is completely subordinated to the ruling party, found new reasons not to extend TVN24's license.
GOVERNMENT ARGUMENTS
The authors of the draft amendment to the Broadcasting Act claimed that they wanted to prevent Polish TV stations from being taken over by "Russian or Chinese companies" or by "drug dealers". In reality, the intention of the ruling party was to silence the last major independent new source.
Public media, as well as hundreds of local newspapers, television, and internet portals, have been transformed into propaganda outlets for the ruling Law and Justice party. This propaganda is extremely primitive. According to the majority of older Poles, even the communists did not allow themselves to manipulate people so brutally.
Marek Suski, one of the deputies who signed the proposal to amend the bill, revealed the true intentions by saying: "This law will be passed and parts of TVN may be bought by Polish businessmen, so we will have some influence on what is happening on this television station."
The Polish rulers want to apply to TVN the same mechanism used in the case of the takeover from the German publisher of about 600 different types of Polish media known collectively as the "Polska Press". All of these outlets were taken over by the formally state-owned, but completely controlled by the ruling party, Polish petrochemical business "Orlen".
SCANDAL DURING VOTING IN PARLIAMENT
August 11 this year. The Sejm of the Republic of Poland put the draft amendment to a vote. There was a scandal. The government party lost the vote on the motion to postpone the discussion on "Lex TVN" until September. The ruling party demanded a break in the deliberations, and during it, it bribed several MPs from two small right-wing parties, offering them lucrative positions in state-owned companies, or passing bills which these parties were waiting for. The president of the Sejm, Mrs. Elżbieta Witek, unlawfully announced the "reassumption" of the vote, explaining that several deputies made a mistake in the previous vote and citing non-existent or outdated legal opinions. This time the government obtained a minimal majority and the anti-TVN act was approved.
According to experts in constitutional law, Marshal Witek committed a crime and should be prosecuted, not by the Tribunal of State, but by an ordinary criminal court.
PUBLIC REACTION
August 10, 2021 in more than 100 Polish towns, as well in Berlin and Brussels, thousands of people took part in protests against the bill. In front of the Sejm building, the appeal of over 1,000 Polish journalists was read out against "the actions of the United Right's government affecting the independence of TVN". Polls showed that about 70% of Poles were against "Lex TVN".
The bill was widely and negatively reported by foreign media - incl. by Reuters, Politico, Associated Press, The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Guardian, Euronews, France 24, Libération, and The Independent. However, Polish nationalists are used to crushing criticism from Western media and to completely ignore world public opinion.
THE EU RESPONSE
"The draft Polish law on broadcasters sends a negative signal" - wrote the deputy head of the European Commission, Vera Jourova on Twitter, providing her opinion with the hashtag #lexTVN.
According to the commissioner, the current situation in Poland shows that the entire European Union needs the "Media Freedom Act", thanks to which it will be possible to "protect freedom of the media and support the rule of law." The Media Freedom Act would prevent a repeat of the situation in Hungary, where the ruling party - Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's Fidesz - controls over 70% of the media market.
AMERICAN REACTION
Adviser to Secretary of State Derek Chollet announced that President Joe Biden had personally followed the amendment to the Broadcasting Act. He added that the TVN issue was a priority for the United States, both Republicans, and Democrats.
On August 12, 2021, the Secretary of State of the United States, Antony Blinken, expressed his deep concern over the adoption by the Sejm of the Republic of Poland of "lex anti-TVN". He stated that "the law would significantly weaken the media environment that Poles have been building for so long" and that this legislative act is "contrary to the principles and values on which modern and democratic states are built". He made it clear that failure to respect common values could jeopardize Poland's security, which many interpreted as a harbinger of a possible withdrawal of the American military contingent from Poland and a refusal to supply US arms as previously agreed.
Earlier, on August 4, 2021, a group of American senators - Jeanne Shaheen, Dick Durbin, Chris Murphy, Chris Coons, Ben Cardin and Jim Risch - signed a joint statement in which it was stated that "this law, in conjunction with Poland's refusal to extend the license for TVN, continues the disturbing trajectory of Polish democracy” and that “any decision to pass these laws could have negative consequences for defence, business and trade relations”[USA-Poland].
On August 6, 2021, a group of members of the US House of Representatives - Gregory Meeks, Michael McCaul, Bill Keating, Brian Fitzpatrick, Gerry Connolly, and Steve Chabot - issued a statement in which she wrote that the draft amendment "fits in the disturbing trend regarding independent media in Poland, as evidenced by a drop in the latest World Press Freedom Index ranking to the lowest in history, 62nd position after five consecutive years of decline."
On August 11, 2021, US State Department spokesman Ned Price called on Poland "to prove its commitment to democratic principles."
As it turned out - all these appeals turned out to be ineffective because the Polish Parliament approved the amendment in an atmosphere of scandal.
Most commentators asked why, in the face of such strong opposition from Polish society, as well as from the United States and the European Union, Mr. Kaczyński, the president of the Law and Justice Party, insisted on going ahead. Many believe that he is aware that without full control over the Polish media he is going to lose the next elections, giving the widespread unpopularity of his party in Poland.
DISCOVERY REACTION
August 12, 2021, Discovery, Inc. officially notified the Polish authorities of the possibility of taking legal action on the basis of the Treaty on Trade and Economic Relations between Poland and the USA, drawn up in Washington on March 21, 1990.
“The notification is a consequence of discriminatory actions and infringing the interests of Discovery, including the unjustified refusal to extend the broadcasting license for the TVN24 channel and the act adopted by the Sejm of the Republic of Poland on August 11, 2021, directly targeting the channels of TVN Discovery group. As adopted, the Act is an act limiting the independence and freedom of the media, aimed at weakening the largest independent media group, which is also the largest American investment in Poland. For many years, the current Polish administration has been perpetrating unfair attacks on TVN Discovery group channels, especially against the TVN24 news channel. These attacks affect the independence of the media and are a direct violation of the legally protected freedom of speech”, said the release.
DUTCH CONCESSION FOR TVN24
On August 16, the management board of TVN announced that TVN24 had obtained a Dutch license, "for which the application was submitted in July 2021, due to the prolonged inactivity of the [Polish] National Broadcasting Council".
Granting the Dutch license means that the station will be able to broadcast in Poland even in the case of the adoption of the amendments unfavourable for its owner, Discovery. It will not be forced to sell the majority of shares, because under EU law the license obtained in any member states of the European Union authorizes the entity covered by it to broadcast in all member states. However, Kasia Kieli, president of TVN and CEO of Discovery Inc. For Central Europe, the Middle East and Africa, again called for the TVN24 Polish concession, because "Poland is the home of TVN."
LATEST DEVELOPMENT
According to some Polish media, the ruling Law and Justice party, under pressure from the Americans, is looking for a way to honourably withdraw from the draft amendment "Lex TVN". According to the news portal Onet, the leader of this party, Jarosław Kaczyński, authorized "his puppet", the president of Poland, Andrzej Duda to veto the act. The second option is to publish a communiqué about its withdrawal from the Senate proceedings "because of the almost certain veto that President Duda intends to apply".
For the time being, however, the matter remains unresolved, and media freedom in Poland is still endangered.
Jacek Pałasiński is one of the best known TV anchors and journalists in Poland and the author of several books.
For the last few years he worked as a correspondent and journalist at TVN24 , presenting the program, The World According to Jacek, in which he deals with issues in the field of international relations. He is also co-founder of the weekly magazine Tu Europa. He cooperated with the TVN media group till the spring of 2021 . He is also the host of the podcast Allegro Ma Non Troppo, or “An hour with Jacek.”
