Following Tested Model, Further Media Control Looms

Michael Hedges October 14, 2020 Follow on Twitter

Deft operators are always on the lookout for opportunities. Objectives are quite clear, strategic advantage tops the list. Leverage sometimes creates these opportunities. Power is often the leverage and the objective. Money is no object. And it is helpful to have a model.

Media watchers in Poland have long foreseen as inevitable the “repolanization” of the media sector once described by Law and Justice (PiS) party leader and government strongman Jaroslaw Kaczynski. The Economist threw on jet fuel - delighting some, horrifying others - with a report (October 8) that PKN Orlen has approached German publisher Verlagsgruppe Passau (VGP) about acquiring its Polish subsidiary Polksa Press.

Polska Press publishes 20 of the 24 regional daily newspapers in Poland. PKN Orlen is the mostly state-owned gasoline (petrol) retailer and refiner, a virtual monopoly. There is one distinct synergy, noted The Economist; The Polska Press titles over-serve the hinterlands and as do PKN Orlen outlets. Rural areas comprise the PiS base, religious conservatives deeply resentful of urban dwellers. “The provinces” came through for the PiS in recent elections.

The Polish government calls this “deconcentration.” The other side sees “orbanization,” a reference to the deft takeover of much of Hungary’s media by supporters of prime minister Viktor Orban. To date the right-wing xenophobic PiS has only engaged in raging against foreign-owned media outlets, many of which have been highly critical editorially, with suggestions of legal measures to limit outsiders ownership, hence editorial control, in the Polish market. This, of course, would run counter to European Union (EU) rules about the free movement of capital. But, the PiS has had long running battles with the EU over rule of law issues, losing most of them.

"it is not a normal situation, that practically all the local press is in the hands” of German companies, said deputy Prime Minister Piotr Glinski on radio channel RMF FM (October 13). “Where it is possible,” he continued, “most likely state-owned companies should buy media, but I don't think it will be destructive for the media market. It will be some kind of monopoly on the other side. At the moment there is a huge advantage of the media that are not in the hands of capital tied to the Polish government.” He continued to rant that “the media market must be pluralised, there should be no concentration there, and in Poland it is.” Top rated RMF FM is owned by Bauer Media, a German company.

Polish media watchers rounded, generally, on the rumored transaction. “This is the implementation of the Hungarian model,” said Ringier Axel Springer Polska (RASP) honorary president Wieslaw Podkanski, to press.pl (October 12). “Which is not surprising, because from the very beginning the ruling party has declared following Budapest.”

“This is the simplest mechanism for an orbanization of the media market and subjugation of the media to political power through state money of state-owned companies,” said media agency OMD president Jakub Bierzynski. “Polska Press is not an accidental choice, because it is known that the most important from the point of view of power is the influence on regional and local media. Subjugating these newspapers is a priority for PiS. It seems that the strong US capital behind (television broadcaster) TVN or major shareholders of (RASP) have strong political support and it would be difficult to push them out of the market.” He also noted that “price does not play a role. It is not their money.”

Advertising also figures into the prospect, suggested Mr. Podkanski. PZU and PKN Orlen jointly own media agency Sigma Biz. “Sigma can have powerful resources which it can hold over other media. Orbán's takeover of the media was similar.” Publicly-traded PZU is Poland’s biggest insurance and financial services company. Neither VGP nor PKN Orlen would comment on any possible transaction or negotiation for Reuters (October 13).

See also...

• Hot Topics - Media in Poland

• Hot Topics - Media in Hungary