Polish media republish rival’s government-critical story in solidarity over regulator’s legal action

Poland’s largest private media outlets have republished an investigation by one of their rivals, TVN, in a show of solidarity after the broadcasting regulator launched proceedings against the station over the report, which was critical of the government.

The programme in question, titled The Power of Lies, was broadcast last September by TVN, which is owned by the US conglomerate Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc.

The station presented evidence that a government committee re-investigating the 2010 Smolensk plane crash – in which President Lech Kaczyński and dozens of other high-ranking officials were killed – deliberately ignored or misrepresented findings commissioned from a US laboratory.

Although official Polish and Russian investigations found the crash to have been an accident, the current ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party, which is led by Lech Kaczyński’s identical twin brother Jarosław, has long argued it was deliberately caused by Russia.

It also claims that Poland’s then-ruling party, Civic Platform (PO), now in opposition, was involved in either planning or covering up the incident.

After PiS returned to power in 2015, it set up a new committee to re-investigate the crash. However, it has since presented no conclusive evidence to support the party’s theories.

After TVN’s report was broadcast, the head of the committee, PiS deputy leader Antoni Macierewicz, submitted a complaint against the station to the National Broadcasting Council (KRRiT), a state regulator.

Macierewicz – who has been the chief proponent of claims that Smolensk was a deliberate Russian attack – accused TVN of broadcasting “lies” that “present the Russian point of view, misleading the Polish public opinion”.

On 30 December, the head of the KRRiT, Maciej Świrski, a conservative figure seen as close to the ruling party, announced that the council was launching proceedings against TVN to determine if it had violated the law and its broadcasting licence by “promoting false information contrary to the Polish raison d’état and threatening public security”.

The outcome of the proceedings could be a fine or even the station losing its licence, according to a former KRRiT chairman, Juliusz Braun.

In response, TVN accused the KRRiT of trying to “restrict journalistic criticism” of the government’s committee. “Instead of guarding freedom of speech, the National Broadcasting Council wants to punish us for it,” said the station.

Meanwhile, dozens of TVN’s rival media outlets have republished The Power of Lies in a show of solidarity with the station.

Among them are the country’s largest private news websites – Onet, Wirtualna Polska and Interia (owned by broadcaster Polsat) – and radio stations – RMF and Radio Zet – as well as major newspapers, including Rzeczpospolita, Dziennik Gazeta Prawna, Newsweek Polska and Gazeta Wyborcza.

The actions of Macierewicz and the KRRiT are “Putin’s standards”, said Jarosław Kurski, deputy editor of Gazeta Wyborcza. “The aim is to push [media] owners to leave Poland or to close down media [outlets],” added Bartosz Węglarczyk, editor-in-chief of Onet.

TVN, which regularly broadcasts material critical of the government, has often clashed with the ruling party. In 2021, PiS passed a bill that would have forced TVN’s US owners to sell their majority share. But it was vetoed by President Andrzej Duda following mass protests and diplomatic pressure from Washington.

Since PiS came to power, Poland has fallen every year in the annual World Press Freedom Index compiled by Reporters Without Borders – from its highest ever position of 18th in 2015 to a new low of 66th last year.

However, PiS has defended its actions, arguing that it has undertaken a necessary rebalancing of a media landscape it claims was previously dominated by liberal and left-wing outlets.

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.