EU, US and UK criticise Poland’s media law, but Polish PM says they misunderstand it

The European Union, United States and United Kingdom have all expressed concern at the bill restricting foreign media ownership that was passed by Poland’s lower house of parliament last night. The Polish prime minister, however, suggests that they do not fully understand the legislation.

The bill, which has also been condemned by the domestic opposition and prompted protests around the country, is widely seen as being aimed  at Poland’s largest private broadcaster, American-owned TVN, which is often critical of the government.

In a statement issued last night shortly after the bill had passed, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said that he was “deeply troubled” by the legislation, which “would significantly weaken the media environment the Polish people have worked so long to build”.

He noted that “free and independent media makes our democracies stronger [and] the Transatlantic Alliance more resilient”. Undermining such freedoms could harm Poland’s investment climate, bilateral relations with the US, and collective security, Blinken warned.

In response, Poland’s prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, suggested that Washington did not fully understand the proposed law. He said that he “invites specialists from our American partners to analyse what we are talking about here”.

“There are no intentions towards a specific broadcaster,” explained Morawiecki, quoted by wPolityce. “[It is about] the need to tighten the system so that it would be impossible for companies from outside the EU to buy [Polish] media…A serious state does not [allow] this.”

The ruling national-conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party has argued that the legislation would prevent entities from places such as Russia and China from buying Polish media firms. PiS chairman Jarosław Kaczyński claimed that it would stop “narco-businesses” from buying outlets to “launder dirty money”.

Yet, given that the only major media outlet in Poland currently owned by an entity from outside the EU is TVN, which belongs to Discovery, Inc., critics see the move as an attempt by PiS to silence critical media. More than 800 Polish editors and journalists have signed a letter in defence of TVN.

Writing today, the European Commission’s vice president for transparency and values, Věra Jourová, said that the Polish media legislation “sends a negative signal” and called for an EU Media Freedom Act to “uphold media freedom and support the rule of law”.

“Media pluralism and diversity of opinions are what strong democracies welcome, not fight against,” she added.  Meanwhile, the president of the European Parliament, David Sassoli, wrote that the Polish bill was “very worrying” and could “seriously threaten independent television in the country”.

This afternoon, the British embassy in Warsaw tweeted that “the UK is concerned at the draft media reform bill passed last night” and that “media freedom is an integral element of global security and prosperity”.

A range of international media rights groups have also voiced concern through an open letter signed by, among others, the International Press Institute and the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom, which describe the legislation as a “dramatic attack on media pluralism”.

The president and the general secretary of the European Federation of Journalists, Europe’s largest such organisation, condemned the “Polish government’s attack on press freedom and media” and supported Jourová’s call for an EU Media Freedom Act.

Since PiS came to power, Poland has fallen every single year in the annual World Press Freedom Index compiled by Reporters Without Borders – from its highest ever position of 18th in 2015 to its lowest ever position of 64th this year.

Under the PiS government, public media have been used to promote the ruling party and attack its opponents; hundreds of local media outlets have been purchased by a state-owned oil giant with government support; and private media and journalists have been targeted with dozens of lawsuits by state entities.

The ruling party, however, argues that its policies have been part of a necessary rebalancing of a media landscape that was previously dominated by left-wing and liberal media outlets, often under foreign ownership.

Main image credit: Adam Guz/KPRM (under public domain)

Daniel Tilles

Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.