The District Court in Warsaw annulled the fine of PLN 80,000. zlotys, which Maciej Świrski, the chairman of the National Broadcasting Council, tried to impose on “Fakty” TVN individually and without any justification. This is not the only, nor the highest, penalty with which the president is trying to intimidate the free media. He once called himself a ‘Taliban’. Katarzyna Kolenda-Zaleska talks about how she deals with free media, whose freedom she does not tolerate.
– with these words, Anita Werner announced the second material in Wednesday’s “Fakty TVN”, which was devoted to the head of the politicized National Broadcasting Council, Maciej Świrski.
Maciej Świrski guarding the media market in Poland. Who does he punish and who does he forgive?
It did not discuss Świrski’s political past, which some might have expected when they heard the reference to the “Taliban”, i.e. the words of the head of the National Broadcasting Council himself in 2010. The focus was on what Maciej Świrski is currently doing and how he exercises his power. Marcin Matczak, a professor at the Faculty of Law and Administration of the University of Warsaw, commented on it this way:
He is carrying out an ideological crusade, which means that his world is divided in half – black and white, and there are people for him who propagate ideas that he accepts and does not deal with them and does not punish them.
Later, examples of penalties imposed by Świrski were cited against TOK FM and “Gazeta Wyborcza”, which are not considered favorable to the United Right camp. The above-mentioned journalist commented on this matter. media Dominika Wielowieyska, who called the head of the National Broadcasting Council (KRRiT) a “PiS soldier”. Meanwhile, the editor-in-chief of the industry magazine “Press”, Marek Twaróg, described Świrski as “the last instance of the former PiS state, which has tools and can discipline the media that that state did not like.”
Kolenda-Zaleska then recalled the penalty of half a million zlotys for TVN24 for broadcasting the reportage “Bielmo. Franciszkańska 3”. The fine was recovered by the Tax Office, despite the sender’s appeal. In a statement for the daily, lawyer Agnieszka Wiercińska-Krużewska stated that the penalty cannot be enforced until the court’s decision is final.
“Fakty” TVN also recalled a fragment of Jan Pietrzak’s scandalous statement about “barracks for emigrants” on TV Republika, which Świrski did not punish in any way. In a recent interview for Radio Three, the head of the National Broadcasting Council said that “a satirist has the right to say whatever he likes.” Kolenda-Zaleska then referred to the recent decision regarding a certain edition of “Contact Lens.
– But it depends on which satirist and where he appears, because if it is Krzysztof Daukszewicz on TVN24, the punishment has already been imposed – admitted the reporter.
The head of the National Broadcasting Council does not see any problems with the former TVP. “Fakty” TVN warns about the current state of affairs
Then, the scandal with Radio Szczecin and the related suicide of the son of MP Magdalena Filiks were mentioned, illustrating this, among others: strips from TVP Info. A fragment of Świrski’s interview for PR3 is also quoted here, in which he said that “there is no connection between the suicide of this child and the articles that appeared.”
At the very end of the material, there were statements by the editor-in-chief of Onet Bartosz Węglarczyk, member of the Association of Journalists and Creators of Public Radio Dorota Nygren and the president of Radio Kaszebe Artur Jabłoński. The latter admitted that small broadcasters are particularly vulnerable to the regulator’s authoritarian decisions. He admitted that his editorial team wonders when they will have to pay for their courage – literally and figuratively.
In a situation where one person usurps the right to decide the fate of the media, not only freedom of speech, but also democracy is at risk – we hear in the summary of Kolenda-Zaleska’s material.
Source: Gazeta

Bruce is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment . He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.