Report identifies 187 state-linked lawsuits “harassing” media under current Polish government

The Journalism Society (Towarzystwo Dziennikarskie), a Polish NGO, has published what it claims to be the first comprehensive report on the scope of legal pressure applied against the media by the state.

It analysed the ways in which politicians and state entities, including state-owned firms, have taken legal action against media outlets and journalists since the current conservative government came to power. During that time, Poland has fallen to its lowest ever position in the separate World Press Freedom Index published by Reporters Without Borders.

“Since 2015, we have been observing mounting attacks from the people in power on independent media, but no one has presented the scale of it yet,” said Ewa Ivanova, a board member of the society and journalist from the liberal Gazeta Wyborcza, which is Poland’s leading non-tabloid daily and a regular critic of the ruling party.

However, another, more conservative body, the Polish Journalists Association (SDP), argues that it is actually “Catholic and patriotic” voices which are being silenced.

According to their findings, between 2015 and 2021 individuals or entities associated with the state filed 187 lawsuits against independent media and journalists. Where such legal actions are deemed to be efforts to censor, intimidate or silence critics, they are referred to as SLAPPs (strategic lawsuit against public participation).

Ivanova says that the society monitored cases bearing marks of “retaliation or pressure applied on the media or journalists…by broadly defined authorities, as well as people and entities linked to them”. A “shocking picture of various methods of harassing media” emerged.

Among the cases, 41 were initiated by public institutions (such as prosecutors, police and ministries), 26 by state-owned companies (which are often under government influence), nine by state broadcaster TVP (which has become a government mouthpiece), and 15 by judges appointed by the current authorities.

Zbigniew Ziobro, the justice minister and prosecutor general, filed four lawsuits; Jarosław Kaczyński, chairman of the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party and Poland’s de facto leader, initiated two; as did both Michał Woś and Sebastian Katela, two deputy government ministers.

The report noted that most of the cases are civil suits, but a significant number, 58, are criminal cases. Many of the latter were brought under defamation laws that can carry prison sentences. Poland has one of the broadest and strictest set of such laws among democratic countries, according to the OSCE.

Gazeta Wyborcza was subject to the highest number of legal actions (73), followed by titles belonging to Ringier Axel Springer Poland (41), such as Onet and Newsweek Polska. Oko.press, an investigative journalism website, faced 16 cases and the Polityka weekly nine.

The association found that in 72 of the cases, journalists have not ultimately faced punishment, either because prosecutors refused to initiate proceedings or because a court decided in their favour. Only in 11 cases has a guilty verdict been recorded, while 91 cases are still ongoing.

However, Ivanova warned that the bringing of cases itself, even if they are ultimately unsuccessful, can have a chilling effect on the media, leading to self-censorship. The report also noted that civil claims have been as high as one million zloty (€222,000).

The authors found that 66 of the cases could be classified as SLAPPs, involving strenuous, severe attacks intended to “harass and intimidate the authors of criticism in order to silence them”.

Earlier this year, a report by the International Press Institute (IPI), a Vienna-based media rights NGO, likewise warned that Poland is “waging a multi-pronged attack on independent media”. This has included “an avalanche” of costly and time-consuming court cases that amount to “legal harassment”.

Reporters Without Borders has also noted that Gazeta Wyborcza in particular has been “the leading target of government lawsuits”. Its World Press Freedom Index this year, which saw Poland fall to 64th out of 180 countries, drew attention to a range of threats to media freedom.

In their report, the Journalism Society called for the removal of article 212 of the criminal code, which criminalises defamation, and article 226, which punishes “insulting a public official” or a “constitutional body” with up to two years in prison.

However, Ivanova noted that it is “people linked to the ruling party that are the authors of most SLAPP attacks, so we should not count on them to introduce legal anti-SLAPP changes”. She suggested that it may be up to the EU to take action.

Agnieszka Wądołowska

Agnieszka Wądołowska is deputy editor of Notes from Poland. She has previously worked for Gazeta.pl and Tokfm.pl and contributed to Gazeta Wyborcza, Wysokie Obcasy, Duży Format, Midrasz and Kultura Liberalna