Polish government “attacking independent media”, finds International Press Institute report

Poland’s government is “waging a multi-pronged attack on independent media”, according to a new report published by the International Press Institute (IPI), a Vienna-based NGO that monitors, promotes and protects media freedom.

During a fact-finding mission to Poland, the IPI says that it found the ruling national-conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party to be seeking to “muzzle” critical reporting and “undermine” watchdog journalism. Last year, Poland fell to its lowest ever position in the World Press Freedom Index compiled by Reporters Without Borders, another NGO.

IPI’s report, however, also finds that Poland’s media landscape remains “highly pluralistic” and “enjoys high levels of freedom of expression” on a national level.

The study was based on interviews with the editors and journalists from both public and independent media outlets, as well as academics, civil society organisations, Poland’s commissioner for human rights, and the ambassadors of the United States and European Union in Warsaw.

The IPI reports that its requests to meet with PiS representatives – including the party’s spokesman, various MPs, and 25 of its MEPs – went unanswered.

Following Hungary’s example

Although PiS has long promised to introduce legislation that would “repolonise” and “deconcentrate” the media market – by limiting foreign ownership and capping the number of outlets under the control of a single media group – no such bill has yet been introduced.

Instead, notes the IPI, the Polish government is “pioneering a form of media capture unique within the European Union”, which relies on the nationalisation of private media companies via state-owned and controlled companies.

Jamie Wiseman, IPI’s advocacy officer on Europe, calls it a “calculated cherry-picking exercise” of “picking bits which have worked in Hungary”, where much of the media has fallen under the influence of Viktor Orbán’s ruling party. “The method is different, but the end result is the same,” said Wiseman.

In December, Poland’s largest energy firm, state-owned Orlen, moved to buy hundreds of local newspapers and websites from their German owner. “The state energy giant PKN Orlen is now likely to remain the economic engine of PiS’ media capture model,” notes IPI.

The report notes that a “slow erosion of editorial independence” akin to “the purge at the public broadcaster TVP in 2016” is expected at the outlets being bought out by Orlen.

However, during an analyst call set up by IPI, Witold Głowacki, an editor of Polska Times, which is among those papers to have been taken over by Orlen, noted that for now editorial work has been unaffected. But there is “no guarantee for the future”, he admitted.

Krzysztof Bobiński, formerly the Financial Times’s Poland correspondent, believes that the takeover of regional media is a way for PiS to ensure it does better at the next local elections in 2023 than it did at the last ones, when opposition parties dominated in cities and towns.

Less revenue, more SLAPPs

The IPI also noted that media critical of the PiS have become the targets of a “coordinated and concerted campaign of administrative pressure” to destabilise their businesses.

These include antimonopoly investigations of unfavoured mergers, licensing changes, and the use of retroactive tax penalties and discretionary fines. State advertising money has also been directed away from critical outlets and towards those more favourable to the government.

It is also feared that a newly proposed tax on media advertising revenue – which this week prompted many outlets to black out their coverage for a whole day in protest – will further distort the media landscape by economic strangulation.

During the launch of the report, experts mentioned the “draining effect” of “an avalanche” of costly and time-consuming court battles – both criminal and civil. Gazeta Wyborcza, a prominent critic of the government, now has 50 court proceedings launched against it by the ruling party and its allies.

The report notes that many such cases have been classified as Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPP), a form of legal harassment used to intimidate public interest journalism.

Unfriendly day-to-day environment

IPI also observes a rise in threats and insults directed at journalists in what it calls a “hyper-polarised society”. Editors interviewed by the report’s authors said they were “routinely vilified, discredited and delegitimised” by both pro-government media and PiS officials.

Journalists also reported discrimination when it comes to access to information by being “routinely” refused interviews and even denied access to “legally guaranteed and publicly held information without explanation”. Some also said they were “met with retaliation” following critical reports, in the form of cancellation of accreditation or blocked entry to political events.

In more serious cases, the report also notes an “increase in violence against journalists” during the abortion protests which swept across Poland in October and November last year. Police faced criticism – and in some cases apologised – for the use of force against members of the press.

The fact-finding mission was carried out virtually between November and December of last year by the IPI, alongside the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF), the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), Free Press Unlimited (FPU), Article 19, and the Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso Transeuropa (OBCT).

Main image credit: Kornelia Glowacka-Wolf / Agencja Gazeta

Maria Wilczek

Maria Wilczek is deputy editor of Notes from Poland. She is a regular writer for The Times, The Economist and Al Jazeera English, and has also featured in Foreign Policy, Politico Europe, The Spectator and Gazeta Wyborcza.