Polish Media Protest
- Justyna Michalak
- Feb 14, 2021
- 2 min read
Yesterday, some of Poland’s major news outlets - including TVN24, Onet, Wp.pl, and Polsat News - united in the protest called ‘Media Without A Choice.’ It resulted in numerous websites, TV, and radio stations being completely blocked for one day. Instead of posting regular content to which their users, listeners, and readers are accustomed, the news outlets fell silent and projected slogans and a critical letter addressed to the government.
The protest was provoked by the Polish government’s plan to increase the tax on advertisements paid by the media as a way of it being a ‘solidarity fee,’ which would help to raise money for the Polish National Health Fund. The letter signed by 43 major news outlets calls the tax extortion, which would mainly harm a regular Polish media consumer, who values being able to access independent media outlets. It argues that the proposed tax is particularly aimed at more financially vulnerable media outlets, that firstly, were negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and now, another burden is being put on them. It is worth noting that national media outlets, such as TVP Info, which are in favor of the current administration, did not participate in the protest.
Why is the bill a potential threat to human rights?
Recently, state-owned refiner PKN Orlen bought one of the largest Polish newspaper groups ‘Polska Press,’ which sparked outrage among many Polish people who viewed it as a way of building media monopoly by the government. It is difficult to avoid comparisons to how the Hungarian government monopolized media, including the comparison to the creation of the Hungarian Central European Press and Media Foundation (KESMA) in 2018, which now unites more than 500 media outlets. Thus, the newly proposed Polish tax bill raises concerns about its true intentions, especially knowing that Kaczyński is drawing inspiration from the methods used by Orban, to increase his political power. It is important to realize that Poland has already dropped in the press freedom ranking from 18th place in 2015 to 62nd in 2020. There is no doubt that the European Union and human rights organizations need to pay close attention to the state of freedom of speech in Poland.
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