Poland’s new government dismisses the leadership of the state media – channels can no longer be received

Der Spiegel: Poland’s new government, led by Prime Minister Donald Tusk and his pro-European cabinet, has taken decisive action a week after assuming office by dismissing the leadership of the state media. This move is seen as an effort to overturn the decisions of the previous national-conservative PiS party government, which was accused of using public media for propaganda purposes. The immediate consequence of this action was the disruption of several state broadcasters, including TVP Info, TVP1, TVP3, and TVP World, which ceased their programming.

The dismissals covered the heads and board members of state television, radio, and the news agency, as announced by the Ministry of Culture. This was in line with a parliamentary resolution aimed at restoring the impartiality of public media, which had long been viewed as mouthpieces for the right-nationalist PiS government.

The resolution to restore “impartiality and reliability” of public media was passed by the new coalition’s parliamentary majority, which PiS members boycotted. Following the vote, PiS leader Jarosław Kaczyński, along with former Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, joined protestors at the state television building, claiming to defend “media pluralism.” Kaczyński announced continued protests by PiS politicians, emphasizing the importance of media freedom and critical media in a democracy.

The entire article can be read at the link https://www.spiegel.de/kultur/in-polen-sieht-man-eine-antirussische-stimmung-a-ded8e61c-46fd-4c88-be7b-6b7546f9943b