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 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 was 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.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Poland’s new administration has announced it is sacking executives at state media outlets that were widely seen as government mouthpieces during the eight years in power of the rightwing populist Law and Justice party (PiS).
The chairs and boards of the state television, radio and news agencies had been removed, Poland’s culture ministry said on Wednesday, citing the need to restore their impartiality.
State-owned media had been regularly accused of biased reporting, transmitting propaganda and launching verbal attacks on the opposition.
The new ruling coalition, led by the prime minister, Donald Tusk, had vowed to deliver on his campaign pledge to reset public television.
“We want to make sure that there is legal order in Poland and that there are free media,” said Marek Suski, another PiS lawmaker, said on Wednesday as the sit-in continued.
The PiS government was frequently criticised by the opposition and non-profits for trying to stifle the independent media and limit freedom of expression.
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