Parliamentary Debate on TVP Info and Public Funding

During Wednesday’s session, opposition members voiced support for a citizens’ law aimed at liquidating TVP Info and ending subscription fees. The PiS Parliamentary Club tabled the motion to reject the bill at first reading.

At the bill’s first reading, five-minute statements were delivered by parliamentary clubs and three-minute statements by the circles. Rafał Trzaskowski, the Mayor of Warsaw, was chosen to represent the Legislative Initiative Committee. In his remarks, he characterized Telewizja Polska as a channel that deepens social divisions and undermines community life.

Opposition attack

The opposition argued that the mission of public media should be to monitor power and hold it accountable on behalf of society. This view was echoed by a representative of the Legislative Initiative Committee who cited the C40 Cities report on reducing meat consumption as an example of manipulation by TVP. He reiterated that he did not support the C40 program.

Warsaw’s mayor countered that TVP Info has been caricatured by some critics. He also pointed to a broadcast discussed on December 30, 2022, about information concerning children who had experienced sexual abuse. The details were highlighted by PO MP Piotr Borys, who referred to a jailed offender and suggested a link to one of the legislator’s relatives. The discussion included claims of stigmatization and exclusion, and Trzaskowski argued that TVP Info damages society. He urged Sejm to back a law that would discontinue the station in its present form.

Rafał Grupiński, a KO member, expressed a similar stance and said TVP’s messaging has a gloomy tone and seems aimed at provoking fear. Other opposition groups also supported continuing work on the bill, with debates focusing on funding for media and the governance bodies that oversee it.

It was argued that media authorities should not be appointed by politicians because they are responsible for the quality of public media. Michał Gramatyka of Poland 2050 said the National Broadcasting Council should be selected through an open process, with no political influence.

Krzysztof Giżyński, Deputy Minister of Culture and National Heritage and a key analyst of how public service tasks are carried out in mass media, noted that removing the subscription model could threaten the funding framework for public media. He warned that such a move might lead to a collapse of funding.

Without subscription revenues, he added, it would be hard to fund compensation schemes that have supported public broadcasters since 2016. He argued that the bill offers no clear alternative and would push funding toward state subsidies without a proven mechanism for distributing them. He suggested that public service broadcasters could still be financed through state subsidies, but so far such subsidies have not been granted.

Giżyński also indicated that the bill does not specify grant amounts or criteria. For TVP, he said, a citizen initiative might still allow limited activity through advertising revenue, but public missions cannot be funded solely by private income. European documents are cited as endorsing the creation of public media and the allocation of resources to perform public tasks.

He warned that reducing funding could end sports broadcasting and film production, and would hinder regional radio, whose budgets rely heavily on public support.

Suski’s response

United Right representative Marek Suski labeled Trzaskowski’s proposal as populist and tied it to internal disputes within the PO and calls for not paying the subscription fee. He suggested that post-election efforts would lead to a broader campaign to abolish the contribution and even mentioned using bailiffs against non-payers. Suski framed the plan as political propaganda and predicted it would resurface after any opposition victory. He emphasized TVP’s role as a guarantor of media pluralism and said the liquidation proposals amount to an assault on freedom of expression and access to information. He also rejected accusations of hate speech aimed at individuals.

Suski referenced an incident in Łódź where a Civic Platform member was linked to violence against a journalist and described such hate as unacceptable. He pointed to past declarations by Trzaskowski about liquidating TVP Info as part of a broader campaign against the broadcaster. The bill, introduced in December 2022, had gathered 103,583 signatures. At the time, left forces opposed the idea of liquidating TVP Info.

The head of the left club, Krzysztof Gawkowski, argued that public television has a mission and provides reliable information. The Press Freedom Observatory of the Association of Polish Journalists also criticized the plan, calling it absurd and unjustified as an attempt to liquidate a public medium. Jolanta Hajdasz of the SDP reiterated concerns about political pressure on media and defended the station as essential to public discourse.

The bill centers on amendments to the law on the license fee and to the broadcasting laws. It argues that Telewizja Polska must create and distribute specialized information and current affairs programs. The reform aims to repeal the subscription fee and stop ex officio fee collections. The vote on the bill was scheduled for Thursday.

gah/PAP

Source: wPolityce