TOK FM appealed against the penalty imposed by the head of the National Broadcasting Council. He directly calls it “interference in press freedom”

In January 2023, the head of the National Broadcasting Council, Maciej Świrski, imposed a fine of PLN 80,000 on the broadcaster of the TOK FM station. PLN for broadcasting “content promoting activities contrary to the law, content inciting hatred or violence and discriminating based on beliefs and political views.” Therefore, he stated that the station violated Art. 18 of the Broadcasting Act and decided to punish the broadcaster.

Another penalty for TOK FM. Świrski punished for something other than what he indicated in the notice

These are five broadcasts that the National Council listened to and, according to the head of the institution, they included statements that “meet the premises of the progressive brutalization of the language of public debate, aiming to blur the line between engaged journalism and hate speech.” These are: press reviews on January 24, 2023 and February 1, 2023, two press review reruns broadcast on February 25, 2023 and April 15, 2023, and an interview with Dr. Mirosław Oczkoś during the broadcast “First Breakfast in Toku” on February 17, 2023.

According to , the portal’s editorial staff managed to check the appeal submitted by Inforadio (the broadcaster of radio TOK FM) on Wednesday to the District Court in Warsaw. The broadcaster noted that the only evidence on the basis of which Świrski imposed the penalty were the results of the National Broadcasting Council’s report. However, according to the broadcaster, they show that the monitoring department of the National Council office ruled out any violation of Art. 18 of the Broadcasting Act.

The TOK FM radio broadcaster directly states that the National Broadcasting Council provided Świrski with a report prepared by its own department, which stated that there was no violation of the regulations, and then Maciej Świrski issued a decision imposing a penalty based on the finding that a violation had occurred. This is puzzling because it means that the decision of the head of the National Council was contrary to the assessment of the regulator’s department.

Moreover, the application states that the decision imposed a penalty for an infringement other than that indicated in the notice of initiation of administrative proceedings, which deprived the broadcaster of the right to defend itself. The proceedings concerned “the broadcasting of content containing language that may arouse reluctance or hostility towards certain people or social groups.” The justification for the penalty stated that a “violation (…) of Article 18(1) was found (…) by broadcasting messages that promote activities contrary to the law, in particular those containing hate speech, i.e. incitement to hatred or violence, and discriminatory on grounds of beliefs, political views or any other views.

The radio broadcaster said: This punishment is Świrski’s unacceptable interference with the freedom of the press

According to Inforadio, in the justification for the imposed penalty, the chairman of the National Broadcasting Council wrongly identified negative statements about politicians with hate speech or incitement to discrimination. As recalled, the law allows the chairman of the National Broadcasting Council to interfere with freedom of speech only when it is necessary to protect the public interest, but imposing a penalty for negative assessments of the behavior of PiS politicians by journalists or his guests does not meet this condition and constitutes an unacceptable interference by the chairman of the National Broadcasting Council in the freedom of the press. Moreover, the TOK FM broadcaster emphasized that the statements of journalists or their guests, for which Świrski imposed a penalty, did not bear any signs of propaganda, did not call for a change in the surrounding reality or discrimination.

This is not the first fine that the TOK FM broadcaster has recently received. Last year, the chairman of the National Broadcasting Council believes that in the broadcast “First breakfast in Toku” from June 7, 2022, he heard “promotion of illegal activities, views and attitudes contrary to morality and social good, content inciting hatred and discriminatory content, as well as humiliation and violation of dignity of the victims of World War II, including Jews. Inforadio also appealed against the decision of the National Broadcasting Council to the court and demands that it be repealed in its entirety. The first hearing is scheduled for April 19, 2024.