US-owned TVN sues Polish ruling party deputy leader for calling it “pro-Russian Soviet creation”

Poland’s largest private broadcaster, TVN, has sued the deputy leader of the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party for describing it as a “pro-Russian Soviet creation”. The development comes amid doubts over the future of the US-owned station, with PiS seeking to change the law on foreign media ownership.

The ruling party’s move against TVN, whose coverage is often critical of the government, has prompted thousands to protest in defence of free media on Polish streets. It has also led to expressions of concern from the Biden administration, as well as the European Union and United Kingdom.

However, Antoni Macierewicz, deputy leader of the national-conservative PiS, which has ruled Poland since 2015, told state broadcaster Polskie Radio this week that it is “completely absurd to call TVN free media”.

“This is a station that was created from the Soviet intelligence agency,” he continued. “This is a station that has been dealing in pro-Soviet and pro-Russian propaganda from the moment it was established…The activity of this station has been directed against Poland.”

TVN was, in fact, established in 1996, five years after the collapse of the Soviet Union. However, its initial owner, the ITI group, had been established under communism. TVN’s first CEO, Mariusz Walter, had been a member of the communist party who worked for state television during the communist era.

Some on the Polish political right have long claimed that TVN was set up on behalf of the former communist security services, and that Walter and his fellow founder of ITI, Jan Wejchert, were former registered informants of the secret police.

“This is a station where former WSI [Military Information Services] and SB [Security Service] officers report constantly, exclusively, and 99% of security matters,” said Macierewicz in his remarks this week. “This is a medium that tries to continue the policy of the communist years.”

Such claims are part of a wider narrative presented by PiS that Poland did not truly regain its freedom after 1989, but that instead a deal was struck between the communists and some parts of the democratic opposition that kept them in power behind a democratic facade.

In response to the PiS deputy leader’s latest remarks, TVN’s head of corporate communications, Katarzyna Issat, told Wirtualne Media that the firm had filed a lawsuit against Macierewicz “for disseminating false information about TVN, and thus infringing the personal rights of the company and its owner”.

“We strongly oppose such comments,” said Issat. “They are an attempt to undermine the credibility of TVN and its American owner, Discovery, Inc.”

In an interview last month with Newsweek Polska, Walter addressed his communist past. He said that he had joined the party because it was the only way to have a career in television at the time.

Asked about a 1983 memo in which communist propaganda chief Jerzy Urban suggested that Walter be made part of a proposed team to create propaganda undermining the democratic opposition, Walter told Newsweek that he was unaware of the idea and that the memo notes he was himself “dissatisfied with the [communist] authorities”.

Macierewicz has himself faced accusations of links to Russian intelligence agencies and organised crime, in particular in a book by journalist Tomasz Piątek. Macierewicz, who was defence minister from 2015 to 2018, has rejected such claims, calling them an “attack on a public official”.

Macierewicz previously served as head of the Military Counterintelligence Service in 2006-7 and interior minister in 1991-2. Before 1989, he was a prominent member of the anti-communist opposition. In recent years he has headed a so-far-inconclusive state investigation into the Smolensk plane crash.

Last week, the PiS-dominated lower house of Poland’s parliament approved legislation that would prevent firms from outside the European Economic Area (EEA) from owning Polish media outlets.

The move is seen to be aimed in particular at TVN, which is the only major network that currently has a non-EEA owner. Should the law be introduced, Discovery could be forced to sell its majority share.

PiS has denied that the bill is directed against any firm, and argues that it is necessary to prevent entities from places such as Russia and China from buying Polish media. PiS chairman Jarosław Kaczyński also claimed that it would stop “narco-businesses” from buying outlets to “launder dirty money”.

Main image credit: Arno Mikkor/EU2017EE (under CC BY 2.0)

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.