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 News From You
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Week ending January 2, 2016
The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) has written to the President of the Republic of Poland, Mr Andrzej Duda,(see below) and to Members of the Polish Senate expressing its dismay at the bill introduced yesterday (30 December) in Parliament. The controversial bill proposes new measures which would immediately oust the supervisory and management bodies of TVP and Polish Radio and transfer the power of nomination and dismissal of their Board Members to a government minister.
"To preserve the integrity and independence of public service media as a symbol of a free and democratic country, we ask you in the strongest possible terms not to sign this measure into law, and certainly not without having first undertaken a careful analysis of its compatibility with the Polish constitution and the freedom and pluralism of the media, guaranteed by Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights," said Ingrid Deltenre, EBU Director General, in her letter.
"The haste with which this new law has been rushed through Parliament strikes a discordant note about Poland and its respect for the rule of law and the democratic process."
Earlier this week the EBU, together with a number of press freedom and media organisations. wrote to Members of the Polish Parliament urging them not to vote for this controversial bill.
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Mr Andrzej Duda,
31st December 2015
SUBJECT : Media Independence in Poland
Dear Mr President,
President of the Republic of Poland Warsaw, Poland
You will not be surprised that I am writing to you in the aftermath of yesterday’s vote in the Sejm on the law on public service media. We are dismayed that such a law could be adopted by the House of Deputies of the Polish Parliament. It is an attack on an institution which will no longer be independent as soon as the measures take effect. In our view, this is a most profoundly retrograde step and will deeply damage public service media.
You will be aware, from the copy which I sent you of my letter on Tuesday to the Speaker of the Sejm, of our alarm at the bill introduced into the Polish Parliament which would immediately oust the supervisory and management bodies of TVP and Polish Radio and transfer the power of nomination and dismissal of the Boards of both organisations to a government minister. That letter and the joint statement issued yesterday by press freedom and media organisations including the EBU, and all the protests made by others against the measure, have so far been ignored.
To preserve the integrity and independence of public service media as a symbol of a free and democratic country, we ask you in the strongest possible terms not to sign this measure into law and certainly not without having first undertaken a careful analysis of its compatibility with the Polish constitution and the freedom and pluralism of the media, guaranteed by Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
The haste with which this new law has been rushed through Parliament strikes a discordant note about Poland and its respect for the rule of law and the democratic process.
Accordingly, we urge you not to sign the new law.
Yours sincerely,
Ingrid Deltenre, Director General, EBU
The undersigned press freedom and media organisations - European Broadcasting Union (EBU), European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), Association of European Journalists (AEJ) and Reporters Without Borders (RSF) - are outraged by the proposed bill, hastily introduced by the majority party in Poland yesterday (29 December) for immediate adoption, without any consultation, abolishing the existing safeguards for pluralism and independence of public service media governance in Poland.
The introduction of a system whereby a government minister can appoint and dismiss at its own discretion the supervisory and management boards goes against basic principles and established standards of public service media governance throughout Europe. If the Polish Parliament passes these measures, which may happen today (30 December), Poland will create a regressive regime which will be without precedent in any other EU country.
We consider that the proposed measures will represent a retrograde step making more political, and thus less independent, the appointment of those in charge of the governance of public service media in Poland.
We urge the Polish authorities to resist any temptation to strengthen political control over the media.
To date, Poland can boast an excellent track record in terms of freedom of the media, which ranks in the top category in the Reporters without Borders World Press Freedom Index 2015 as well as in the 2015 Freedom House report on political rights and civil liberties. TVP reaches more than 90% of the Polish population every week and had about 30% of the TV broadcasting market in Poland in 2014, which is higher than in the case of most public TV channels in Central and Eastern Europe.
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