A disagreement over the future of publicly owned media following a significant change in government has intensified since Poland’s culture minister announced on Wednesday that the country has chosen to put its state radio, television, and news agency into liquidation.
“Due to the decision of the President of the Republic of Poland to suspend financing of public media, I decided to put into liquidation the companies Telewizja Polska SA, Polskie Radio SA and Polska Agencja Prasowa SA,” Bartlomiej Sienkiewicz, culture minister, said in a statement posted on social media platform X.
“In the current situation, such action will ensure the continued operation of these companies, carry out the necessary restructuring and prevent layoffs of employees in the above-mentioned companies,” he added.
This month, a pro-EU coalition led by Donald Tusk came to power in Poland and began a reform of state media outlets that opponents claim had been turned into propaganda machines during the eight years the nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party was in power.
PiS is strongly against the changes, claiming that the new government has implemented them outside of the regular parliamentary process.
The action on Wednesday comes after PiS ally President Andrzej Duda decided to veto the new government’s spending plans for financing public media. In a post on X, PiS lawmaker Joanna Lichocka stated that “Tusk’s government is destroying the Polish media. This is an act which damages the state.”
In an effort to reestablish impartiality, the new government removed executives from state media and shut down state news channel TVP Info earlier in December. According to media analysts and proponents of free speech, TVP served as a government mouthpiece under PiS rather than as the impartial news source as stated in its charter.
