In the midst of conflicts with the European Union (EU), Poland may soon create rifts with the United States as well. The country’s parliament approved on Friday (17) a controversial media bill classified by the opposition as a threat to press freedom and the target of criticism from Americans, who could lose majority control of one of the main channels in the country.
By 228 votes in favor and 219 against, the lower house of the legislature, which had already given the green light to the bill in August, overturned the veto given by the Senate in September. The session, convened in haste and unexpectedly half an hour before the start, has been something of criticism from the opposition. Now, the decision is in the hands of President Andrzej Duda, who has not given clear signals about what he intends to do.
With the argument of imposing restrictions on foreign ownership in the Polish media and preventing nations such as Russia and China from gaining influence in public opinion, the law, defended by the ruling conservative nationalist party, Law and Justice (PiS), would prohibit any outside entity of the European Economic Area to hold a majority stake in the shares of television or radio stations in the country.
The change would create a diplomatic dispute with the US because it would affect the TVN24 news channel, owned by the American Discovery Inc and known for having an editorial line critical of the government. Registered in the Netherlands as a way to get around the legislation, the company would have to sell part of its shares if it wanted to stay in the country.
TVN’s board of directors, in a statement, called the vote “an unprecedented attack on free media” and said the company was determined to defend its investments in Poland. The parent company Discovery, in a separate statement, said the decision “should worry any company that invests in the country” and called on President Andrzej Duda to veto the device.
The US diplomatic charge of affairs in Warsaw also spoke out and said the US is “extremely disappointed”. “We hope that President Duda will act on previous statements to use his leadership to protect the freedoms of expression and business,” wrote Bix Aliu on Twitter.
The Polish leader has already publicly criticized the content of the law, but it is not clear how much he would be willing to oppose the Pis, with which he is an ally (in Poland, presidents do not belong to parties). In August, during an interview with the public broadcaster TVP Info, Duda said he believed that “media repolonization” is an important topic, but that it should be done based on the laws of the market, and not compulsively.
“This is a very controversial and incomprehensible solution for our American partners because of the protection of property and because of the value of free speech,” he said at the time, referring to the media law.
In addition to approving or rejecting the content of the law, the president could also send it to the Constitutional Court of Poland, the country’s highest court currently controlled by the PiS. The court, by accepting requests from the dominant party, has already taken decisions criticized by the international community, such as when it decided that parts of EU treaties are incompatible with Polish law.
The approval of the project, in an accelerated way and just before the Christmas holiday, is seen as a success for the PiS, as there were doubts about the acronym’s ability to obtain enough votes to approve the controversial content. Joanna Lichocka, deputy for the legend, argued in a statement that the rule limiting non-European capital in the media is in line with European law.
Critics say the move seeks to limit press freedom and is part of an authoritarian agenda in place in Poland, where discussions over the LGBTQIA+ agenda have already led to clashes with the EU and a controversial reform has undermined the independence of the judiciary.
The advance of the ruling party in Poland under the private media, now institutionally, has already been observed, also, in the public media. During the electoral race that last year re-elected Duda, the country’s public channels, such as TVP, marginally covered opposition candidate Rafal Trzaskowski and ignored opinion polls that showed unfavorable results for Duda.
Since winning the parliamentary elections in 2015, PiS has replaced the directors of public channels and has advocated the “repolonization” of the media, attacking foreign companies that control about 75% of the Polish market.
The country’s constitution prohibits prior censorship and ensures press freedom, but entities such as Reporters without Borders see deterioration under the PiS government. For five consecutive years Poland has fallen in the ranking of the entity, occupying in 2021 the 64th place among 180 countries. Before the right-wing party came to power, the Polish media was considered free and had been climbing the rankings, up to 18th position.
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