Poland: private media placed under state protection
The Polish government under Prime Minister Donald Tusk has added the country's two largest private media companies, Polsat and TVN, to the list of strategic companies, which enjoy special protection. The move is intended to protect these companies from takeovers that contravene the rule of law. Commentators point out that threats to press freedom don't only come from the private sector.
A balancing act
Jessica Moss, a Junior Fellow at the think tank Visegrad Insight, writes in Lrytas:
“The success of such an action depends on how national security and media freedom are harmonised and balanced. From now on, the Polish government has the power to authorise or block the sale of these companies. ... On the one hand, this could set a precedent that protects the media from foreign influence. On the other hand, a repeat of previous abuses of power could exacerbate the divisions in an already divided environment and create a vacuum of trust that can be exploited by malicious foreign and domestic actors.”
Special times call for special measures
The state must protect the media from foreign influence, argues Rzeczpospolita:
“Freedom of expression is important, but protecting it - including through regulation - makes systemic sense. Especially today, when both companies are not just television corporations. Both TVN and Polsat are multimedia groups that are increasingly present on the Internet. And both companies have problems. In the case of TVN, the decision to sell was made by the US company Warner Bros Discovery. The Polsat Plus group is struggling with debt and a succession crisis. It would be a tragedy if, in the age of hybrid warfare, one of these key broadcasters for the Polish media system were to fall into suspicious hands.”
Tusk defending his pet TV channel
The government wants to keep TVN just as it is because it is a loyal supporter, the PiS-affiliated news website wPolityce.pl criticises:
“Donald Tusk's party has the same hopes, adheres to similar principles (or justifies the lack of them), shares the same crazy ideological ideas and even relies on the same aesthetics as the broadcaster. ... Donald Tusk must defend and keep TVN as it is because his party has grown in symbiosis with the network; they are interwoven like strands of DNA.”