For the last two years, TVP World has been a platform dedicated to the free flow of information. We have been covering the Russian invasion of Ukraine extensively since day 1. We host experts from all over the world to discuss the most crucial events and developments in world politics.

TVP World is an impartial channel devoted to raising awareness of the dangers of authoritarian regimes such as Russia, China, and Iran. Nevertheless, recent events conducted by the newly elected Polish government to illegally take control of TVP have left us speechless. Our channel and its website have been shut down with no reason provided, and our work is on hold. As many people are asking about the legality of the new government actions, let us bring you a few facts.

Late in the morning of December 20, the broadcast signal of many TVP channels was switched off and their websites were made inoperational. These include the TVP Info news channel, TVP World English-language news channel, as well as regional channels.

This was done in contravention of a decision of the Constitutional Tribunal which ordered that no changes be made to the national broadcasters without following the proper legal procedure.

One of the current governing coalition’s ideas to drive change in the public media quickly was to dissolve the media companies only to set them up again, hire staff anew, and get rid of journalists critical of the new government. Furthermore, the liquidation of TVP would be a violation of the law and would contradict the elementary principle of the rule of law. Polish law requires that public broadcasting is maintained.

The legal basis used for the liquidation of national broadcasters is based on the regulations of the Commercial Companies Code, which gives the liquidator very limited authority, which could impede more significant changes in the public media. He can be appointed to liquidate a particular program, but in order for the law to be followed, the curator appointed by the court must also be present. There are also doubts about whether CCC is applicable in this situation.

The Association of Polish Journalists (SDP) has strongly condemned the government actions of December 20 in a protest issued on Wednesday, calling them “a barbaric attack on freedom of speech and journalistic independence.”

In the protest, it specified these actions to be Sienkiewicz’s decision to remove the heads of public broadcasters and the Polish Press Agency, which is the prerogative of the National Media Council, the illegal forced entry into their offices using hired security companies, as well as the turning off of the broadcasting equipment of TVP Info, TVP World, and TVP Info’s website.

“According to the current law in Poland, changes in the public media can be made only on the basis of an ACT [not a resolution; TVP World] adopted by the Sejm and the Senate and signed by the President of the Republic of Poland,” SDP states.

“These barbaric actions are an assault on freedom of speech and journalistic independence. ZG SDP [the main board of SDP] once again stresses that all these actions are illegal actions that will result in criminal liability. ZG SDP appeals to the government to immediately withdraw from these actions destroying democracy in Poland. ZG SDP also appeals to the President of the Republic of Poland, who is the guarantor of compliance with the Constitution and observance of fundamental civil rights, to take immediate action to prevent a hostile takeover of public media in Poland,” the statement reads.

On Tuesday, the lower house of the Polish parliament (Sejm) passed a resolution calling on the State Treasury to “take corrective action” to ensure the proper functioning of state-owned radio (PR) and TV broadcaster (TVP) as well as the Polish Press Agency (PAP).

On the day the resolution was to be voted upon, Sejm Speaker Szymon Hołownia admitted that a resolution is an opinion, not an act of law. Critics of the resolution said that the by passing a resolution instead of an act, the government wishes to circumvent the legal route, such as changing the composition of the National Broadcasting Council (KRRiT) which would require an act of the parliament to be signed into law by receiving a signature of the President of the Republic of Poland, Andrzej Duda, who could veto the act, and which the current ruling coalition does not have sufficient number of MPs to overturn.

“Without questioning the right of the parliamentary majority to introduce changes in the legal system, it should be emphasized that the political goal must not constitute an excuse for violating or circumventing constitutional and statutory regulations.” Duda argued in a letter addressed to Hołownia, adding that “All public authorities are obliged to act based on and within the limits of the law.”

Ostensibly agreeing with the letter, Hołownia’s response nonetheless suggested that he believed those in favor of the resolution to be in the right, dismissing the President’s concerns.

Articles 213 through 214 tasks KRRiT with safeguarding the freedom of speech, and the right to information as well as safeguarding the public interest regarding radio broadcasting and television, with the specifics of its operations regulated by statute.

“The freedom to express opinions, to acquire and to disseminate information shall be ensured to everyone,” reads the relevant part of Article 54 of the Constitution. “Preventive censorship of the means of social communication and the licensing of the press shall be prohibited.”

Since 2016, the governing body of TVP has been elected and dismissed by the National Media Council (RMN). Its competencies also include appointing and dismissing the boards of Polish Radio and PAP. The National Media Council also serves an advisory role in the management of public media. Its composition is also guaranteed to include representatives of the opposition.

The current government wants to entrust the matter of changes in TVP structures to the new Minister of Culture, Bartłomiej Sienkiewicz.

Sienkiewicz is a former intelligence officer. He worked in the State Protection Office (UOP) from its inception until 2002. He ended his career with the rank of lieutenant colonel.

In the years 2013–2014, he was the Minister of Internal Affairs and the coordinator of intelligence services. The Internal Security Agency, (ABW) which was subordinate to him at that time, conducted a raid on the editorial office of the weekly magazine Wprost to take over recordings of conversations between politicians from the coalition of PO (forerunner of KO) PSL coalition. The recordings were part of the so-called “tape scandal.”

On June 14, 2014, after the weekly Wprost published transcripts of two conversations involving prominent representatives of the political sphere. The first of the disclosed tapes was a conversation between Minister Sienkiewicz, and the President of the National Bank of Poland, Marek Belka.

In the recording, Belka promised support to the Minister of Internal Affairs in financing the budget deficit in exchange for the dismissal of the Minister of Finance, Jacek Rostowski, and the amendment of the law on the central bank. A few months later, both conditions of the NBP president were fulfilled. It was in this conversation that Bartłomiej Sienkiewicz made the widely commented-upon statement that “the Polish state exists only theoretically, practically it does not exist.”

Another controversy surrounding Sienkiewicz pertained to an incident during a 2013 Independence March held annually on November 11, when a guard booth in front of the Russian embassy was set on fire

In a conversation between Paweł Wojtunik, the then head of the Anti-Corruption Burea (an agency subordinate to the Ministry of Interior), told a high-ranking PO politician Elżbieta Bieńkowska that the act of arson was not an act of hooliganism, but a deliberate provocation of security services.

“He learned to manage everything [special services] over the phone. […] And he gives them orders. And that same way they went, they burned down the booth outside the embassy, because the minister personally came up with such…. you know with such….”

“Such a concept, yes,” Bieńkowska finished Wojtunik’s sentence.

After the tape was published, the head of the CBA subsequently denied that his statement meant to suggest Sienkiewicz ordered such a provocation.

TVP World under siege

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— TVP World (@TVPWorld_com) December 20, 2023