Poland moves up in World Press Freedom Index for the first time in eight years but issues remain

Poland has moved up in the World Press Freedom Index for 2023, after having consecutively fallen in the rankings over the last seven years. This year Poland was ranked 57th, improving from 66th last year, which was its lowest ever position.

The authors of the report note that the improvement in Poland’s score was largely linked to fewer attacks and arbitrary arrests of journalists than in previous years, though they point out that “ruling politicians and their entourages regularly launch verbal attacks and SLAPPs (Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation) against critical journalists“.

Reporters Without Borders, the NGO that compiles the index, classifies Poland’s situation as “problematic” and points to a wide spectrum of issues such as the public media becoming the ruling party’s mouthpiece and the acquisition of the local press by state-controlled oil company Orlen.

The World Press Freedom Index defines press freedom as “the effective possibility for journalists…to select, produce and disseminate news and information in the public interest, independently from political, economic, legal and social interference, and without threats to their physical and mental safety”, and uses five indicators: political context, legal framework, economic context, sociocultural context, and security.

In the 2023 edition, Poland scored significantly better in the security portion of the index and only marginally better in the legislative indicator, while declines were observed in the remaining three indicators.

The report notes that even though the private market remains fairly pluralistic, private outlets need to compete with media funded with state money, either directly as in the case of state broadcaster TVP, or indirectly through advertising money from state-run companies. Independent media also faced a failed attempt to impose a special tax aimed at their advertising revenue.

The government has tried to increase its influence over the media market through what it called a media “repolonisation”, arguing that it needs to take over media outlets that are owned by foreign owners for the sake of the national interest. As part of these plans, state oil giant Orlen acquired 20 of the 24 regional newspapers in 2021.

In recent years, the rights of journalists such as freedom of the press and the right to information, which are enshrined in law, also have been curtailed. The NGO points, among other things, to the restriction of access to border areas during the Belarusian border crisis, where at least a dozen migrants died, a ban that the Polish Supreme Court ruled to violate media freedom.

Some journalists wishing to cover the refugee crisis faced “arbitrary and violent arrests”, while attacks on journalists during the 2020 abortion protests also showed that the police are unable to protect them. Overall, however, Poland has seen less violence from law enforcement authorities and extremist groups in the last year, the authors of the index found.

“The state regulator is attempting to challenge the findings and opinions of journalists using the legal provision of the protection of the ‘raison d’État’,” the organisation wrote, adding that in some cases Polish authorities have also tried to undermine the journalistic right to protect the confidentiality of sources.

“There was no significant improvement in the state of press freedom in Poland,” Pavol Szalai, the head of the EU/Balkans Desk at Reporters Without Borders, said in an interview with a private broadcaster TVN24. He also stressed that Poland is now “the fifth worst country in Europe from the point of view of media freedom”.

With the Polish parliamentary elections approaching, Szalai has warned that attacks on journalists are common during the election period, “because some politicians will conclude that this will benefit their electorate”.

Main image credit: World Press Freedom Index, Reporters Without Borders

Alicja Ptak

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