Polish media law faces uncertain future amid coalition splits

The TVN logo of private television can be seen on the satellite antenna in their headquarters in Warsaw, Poland, February 10, 2021. REUTERS / Kacper Pempel / File Photo

WARSAW, July 14 (Reuters) – Poland’s media law faced an uncertain future on Wednesday as the ruling coalition was split over a proposal that could result in a US television station critical of the government losing its license.

The ruling nationalist Law and Justice Party (PiS) has long argued that foreign groups own too much media, distorting public debate, but critics say the government aims to increase control of the media and restrict free expression .

Last week the PiS legislator presented legislative changes to the Polish Broadcasting Act that are intended to prevent companies outside the European Economic Area from taking control of Polish radio and television stations.

According to opposition lawmakers, this would mean that TVN and its news channel TVN24, which are owned by Discovery (DISCA.O), would lose their licenses. According to PiS, the law is intended to prevent countries like Russia and China from taking control of Polish television and radio stations.

In response to the concerns raised by critics, the Accord party, the PiS junior coalition partner, proposed a change that would allow companies from Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries to have more than 49% stake Polish media owning company.

The United States was one of the founding states of the OECD.

“We are convinced that these solutions are good and do not change the basic purpose of the bill,” Accord spokeswoman Magdalena Sroka told Reuters.

One of the PiS lawmakers behind the original proposal, Marek Suski, said Wednesday the future of the bill was uncertain due to a lack of support within the ruling coalition.

“They behave as if they were in the opposition and not in the coalition,” said Suski to the private broadcaster Republika TV, referring to the Accord proposal, the state news agency PAP reported.

He said he hoped it would be possible to get the support needed to pass the law and that “colleagues will not attack us, they will work with us”.

Sroka said her party was not attacking anyone and her proposal was an attempt to have a dialogue.

“We can see how emotionally charged this topic has become. It sparked public debate, hence our proposal, ”she said.

Poland recently used its state-owned refinery PKN Orlen (PKN.WA) to buy up a newspaper publisher from German owners, giving Warsaw more leverage over 20 local daily newspapers, whose websites attract nearly 17 million daily visitors.

Reporting by Alicja Ptak; Editing by Alan Charlish and Nick Macfie

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.