Polish parliament votes to put media regulator chief on trial

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Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and is published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

Poland’s parliament has voted to bring the head of the country’s media regulator before the State Tribunal, a body empowered to punish the highest officials of the state.

Maciej Świrski, an outspoken conservative figure and an appointee of the former Law and Justice (PiS) government, is accused of making impartial and politically motivated decisions against private media he perceived as hostile to PiS and of withholding money from public media after the new government took office.

As a result, Świrski, who has led the National Broadcasting Council (KRRiT) since 2022 and views the move as a politically motivated attack on free speech, has been suspended from his duties while the case proceeds. He has said he will not step aside voluntarily.

The KRRiT is tasked with overseeing radio and television broadcasters in Poland. Under Świrski’s leadership, it has faced criticism for disproportionately targeting media outlets critical of PiS, including Radio Zet and TOK FM.

In March 2023, the regulator fined TVN – Poland’s largest private television network – 550,000 zlotys (€128,000) for what it called a “lack of objectivity and journalistic integrity” in a documentary about Polish Pope John Paul II’s handling of clerical abuse cases.

Last year, a group of lawmakers from the ruling coalition submitted a motion to bring Świrski in front of the State Tribunal.

On Friday, the lower house of parliament, the Sejm, passed the motion with 237 votes in favour, 179 against, and 16 abstentions, surpassing the required absolute majority of 217 in a session with 432 MPs present.

Zdzisław Gawlik, chairman of the Sejm’s constitutional accountability committee, noted during the debate before the vote that the move to put Świrski on trial comes “not out of revenge, not out of emotion, but out of a duty to the law and to the citizens”.

Meanwhile, the Constitutional Tribunal (TK), seen as under the influence of PiS, challenged the legality of the Sejm’s vote, arguing that placing Świrski before the State Tribunal requires a three-fifths majority, not a simple absolute majority.

In a recent ruling, the TK found key provisions of the State Tribunal Act unconstitutional, stating that members of the KRRiT should be treated similarly to government ministers, where the threshold for putting an official on trial is higher.

“This vote violated the constitution,” Świrski stated, referring to the TK ruling, during a press conference just after the vote in the Sejm. “I have decided that I do not recognise [it].”

Świrski, a longtime ally of PiS, has dismissed the accusations as politically motivated and framed the move as an attack on free speech. He said that he has “decided to remain” in his position as the KRRiT’s chief.

“The KRRiT is continuing to work and we will not succumb to manipulative pressure from the Sejm, the government or certain media outlets,” he told reporters on Monday, quoted by the Polish Press Agency (PAP).

During PiS’s eight years in office, Poland fell from its highest-ever position of 18th in the annual World Press Freedom Index compiled by Reporters Without Borders to its lowest-ever position of 66th. In 2023, the country moved up in the ranking for the first time in eight years.

The State Tribunal is a special judicial body empowered to punish the highest officials of the state for violations of the constitution or other laws. It can impose penalties, including removal from office, disqualification from holding public positions, and suspension of electoral rights.

No official has been tried before the State Tribunal since 2005. In March last year, the ruling coalition also submitted a motion to put central bank governor Adam Glapiński – a close associate of PiS leader Jarosław Kaczyński – on trial.

Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

Main image credit: Robert Kowalewski/Agencja Wyborcza

Alicja Ptak

Alicja Ptak is senior editor at Notes from Poland and a multimedia journalist. She previously worked for Reuters.