Tusk disappointed with slow progress in public broadcaster’s upgrades

11 months ago 31

Newly-appointed Prime Minister Donald Tusk is not satisfied with the insufficient efforts by the Culture Ministry to reverse the controversial changes in public broadcasting that made it dependent on the previous nationalist PiS government, according to local media.

During its eight-year rule in Poland, which ended last week, the Law and Justice (PiS, ECR) party passed a reform that imposed political control over the Polish public broadcaster TVP and the Polish Radio, which resulted in the accusations of bias and regular discrediting the opposition.

The new government led by Tusk and consisting of his Civic Coalition (KO, EPP/S&D), centrist Third Way (Renew/EPP) and the Left (S&D/Left) pledged to reverse the PiS’ changes and restore pluralism and objectivity in the public media.

One of the persons in the new government who is responsible for that task is the new Culture and National Heritage Minister Bartłomiej Sienkiewicz, former interior minister in Tusk’s previous government, and great-grandson of Polish famous writer, Nobel Prize laureate Henryk Sienkiewicz.

Yet, Tusk is disappointed with the pace of the changes in the public broadcaster and the actions of the ministry subordinate to Sienkiewicz, which he expressed after having returned from last week’s European Council, according to the Polish media.

“I hear that when Donald Tusk returned from Brussels, traditionally, he was angry that nothing had happened (during his absence). TVP was crucial in the plan of showing that something has changed (with the new government coming to power),” Newsweek journalist Dominika Długosz told Onet’s morning programme.

She added that a new deputy minister, the main person in charge of the public media reform, was supposed to be appointed.

KO’s voters expected to see new faces in TVP immediately after the new cabinet came to power, she insisted, adding that the new minister seemed unsure where to start.

Sienkiewicz appeared “convinced that everyone (in the media regulating bodies) would be scared and give up,” Długosz argued.

The changes in TVP would nevertheless start as soon as before Christmas, according to the source cited by Rzeczpospolita news outlet. The source said the talks on the matter took place during the weekend.

The reform would start with liquidating TVP. Then, legislative solutions are to be prepared regarding the public media and media regulators.

In recent years, TVP has often been criticised for being highly biased and politically one-sided content, which many called the government’s propaganda. TVP journalists mostly interviewed PiS politicians and almost always showed the opposition in a bad light.

Over its two terms in power, PiS was engaged in conflicts with the European Commission over the rule of law, which the Commission said PiS’ reforms undermined, including judicial independence and media freedom.

The concerns over the rule of law were the reason why the Commission continues to freeze the money allocated for Poland under the Recovery and Resilience Facility. With the political changes planned, Tusk hopes the payments can be launched soon.

(Aleksandra Krzysztoszek | Euractiv.pl)