Poland: CFWIJ Welcomes President Duda’s Decision To Veto Controversial Media Ownership Law
Location: Poland, Warsaw
Date: January 4, 2022
The Coalition For Women In Journalism welcomes the decision of the President of Poland, Andrzej Duda, to veto the so-called “Lex-TVN” amendment passed by the Sejm on December 17, 2021, which would have prevented any non-European outlet from owning a 50% share or more in a Polish broadcaster. The proposed media ownership law, seen as a direct attack on the independence of the US-owned TVN and its news channel TVN24, had brought widespread condemnation from local and international press freedom groups, including the CFWIJ. We are relieved that the law, which posed a fundamental threat to media freedom and pluralism in the country, has been scrapped.
“I am vetoing it,” said Duda in a televised statement after press freedom groups, journalist bodies, the European Union and the United States heavily criticised the law.
The proposed law barred companies from outside the European Economic Area from holding a controlling stake in Polish media companies. It would have forced the US media group Discovery to sell its controlling stake of the Polish broadcaster TVN, therefore it was seen as a direct attack to the channel that has been critical of Poland's government.
On December 22, 2021, the CFWIJ joined 16 media freedom and journalist groups to call on Duda to apply a presidential veto on the proposed law. “Rather than a sincere effort to protect Poland against hostile foreign media takeovers, our organisations are convinced that this media ownership law has always been about one goal: slicing through TVN’s ownership structure and forcing Discovery to sell a controlling 51% stake, opening the door for government-allied entities to potentially acquire stakes and ultimately engineer a shift in editorial position to one more favourable to the ruling party,” stressed the signatories of the International Press Institute's letter to the Polish president.
In his statement on December 27, 2021, Duda said he agreed with the principle of protecting the Polish media landscape from potentially hostile actors such as Russia - as had been argued by proponents of the proposed law - but that this should not apply to existing business arrangements and investment treaties.
"The bill and its amendments concern entities which are already present in the market," said Duda, announcing his decision. He added that media pluralism and freedom of speech had to be considered. “When taking my decision, I took this element into serious consideration.”
Earlier last month, thousands of people had protested outside the presidential palace in Warsaw calling for the rights of the free press and demanding that Duda veto the proposed legislation.
The Coalition For Women In Journalism welcomes the president’s decision to veto the proposed amendment. We, along with major press freedom groups, found that while laws restricting foreign media ownership do exist in EU member states, this bill did little to ensure protection of the Polish media landscape. Instead, it appeared as a blatant effort to undermine one particular outlet and attempted to facilitate increased influence of government-allied entities in the news industry. We urge the Polish government and legislative bodies to ensure that laws regarding journalists do not infringe on the rights to information and a free press. The principles of media pluralism and independent journalism must be protected.
The CFWIJ strongly condemns the police brutality against journalists. We demand the immediate return of the press cards seized from the security forces. Policies to intimidate journalists should be abandoned, and journalism should be practiced under the criteria of freedom of the press.
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