“Salon Dziennikarski” marks a joint broadcast by wPolityce.pl and Radio Warszawa on wPolsce.pl TV for a second time. Today’s guests, hosted by Jacek Karnowski, were columnists from the weekly Sieci and the wPolityce.pl portal: Elżbieta Królikowska-Avis, Marcin Wilk, Goran Andrijanić, and Michał Karnowski. The discussion centered on what many see as an unprecedented assault on public media.
We’ve been through this before
The panel focused on the government’s new approach to public media and debated whether resisting the power grab led by those backed by Culture Minister Bartłomiej Sienkiewicz makes sense in today’s climate.
Królikowska-Avis recalled the moment when public media were seized during the era of the Polish People’s Republic and drew parallels with events from March 1968 and martial law.
Back then Poland faced a struggle for freedom of expression and pluralism. The current situation mirrors those days in many ways. The military and, later, the police and security services were involved in moving television equipment and personnel, just as they were in the past. The memory of General Jaruzelski’s December 13, 1981, address remains fresh because it was not delivered from a proper television studio. This context—and what it implies for today—reverberates in the conversation.
— Królikowska-Avis noted, adding that she had been dismissed from her first job due to her Solidarity activities.
There was no Telerank, there was no “Wiadomości”
Marcin Wilk pointed out that right-leaning commercial media can still broadcast, but the future remains uncertain and full of questions.
Donald Tusk acknowledged that the media landscape has changed since 2015 and underscored the growing importance of online outlets. He compared today’s situation with the absence of a traditional program like Telerank 42 years ago, noting that there is no longer a program equivalent to “Wiadomości.” He suggested that the plan to replace it with a prosthesis spreading a particular worldview would be remembered for decades.
— he remarked.
This persistence has a purpose because it is essential for accountability and public discourse.
— he added, drawing attention to Michał Adamczyk, Marcin Tulicki, and Samuel Pereira as figures who allegedly tried to coax resignations with lucrative severance packages, only to publicize details about earnings when they refused.
Goran Andrijanić observed that the media battle is already being lost in several post-communist countries, citing Slovenia and Croatia as examples.
In Poland, however, the panel argued that a resilient media market exists where political pluralism remains a feature. The last eight years have produced a balance that many neighboring post-communist states would envy.
The power will reach further and further
Michał Karnowski, joining the guests in the wPolsce.pl studio near the Public Television headquarters at Powstańców Square, stressed that those present understood the gravity of the moment.
When access to a legally regulated medium is forcibly curtailed with impunity, the rules of the game shift. Yet there remains a belief that violence must be rejected.
He described the evening paper Evening News as a fake release and warned that further production would be simulated soon, emphasizing a dangerous trend in the information space.
This was the sense of the first portion of the program, a discussion that sought to articulate the stakes involved in preserving a free and diverse media environment.
—
End of segment remarks attributed to the program team and participants, reflecting ongoing concerns about media independence and democratic accountability in the face of pressure from political actors.