Polish President Slams Tusk’s Public Television Shakeup as ‘Anarchy’

Agnieszka Barteczko and Natalia Ojewska
·2 min read
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(Bloomberg) -- Poland’s President Andrzej Duda denounced as “anarchy” the new government’s shakeup of public broadcasters that led to some channels going off air and sparked protests from former ruling party lawmakers.

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The criticism follows a day of drama at the headquarters of state television, with a sit-in by nationalist lawmakers and chaotic scenes as newly appointed executives entered offices for the first time. Prime Minister Donald Tusk, whose pro-European Union alliance unexpectedly won elections in October, has denounced state television as a mouthpiece of the Law & Justice party and vowed to quickly overhaul it.

Culture Minister Bartłomiej Sienkiewicz dismissed executives at public media outlets on Wednesday after parliament passed a motion calling for a reshuffle, a move denounced as illegal by Duda. The developments show that the new administration faces a difficult cohabitation with the president, an ally of the previous government.

“This is anarchy, circumventing the law is anarchy,” Duda told Radio Zet on Thursday, questioning the legal basis for carrying out the shakeup.

Read more: Polish State TV Goes Dark as Nationalists Decry Tusk Shakeup

Criticism from the president matters because Duda wields veto powers over legislation. It will be easier for the new government to deliver sweeping changes that will reverse years of democratic backsliding and help Poland access almost €60 billion ($65.7 billion) in blocked EU aid if the president doesn’t thwart its reform efforts.

The state TVPInfo channel has stopped broadcasting news on Wednesday and its website is off-line. The public broadcaster’s main evening news program didn’t air. Instead, new anchor Marek Czyz promised to replace what he described as the station’s “propaganda soup” with a “clean water” snapshot of the day’s events, starting from Thursday.

In its election monitoring report from the Oct. 15 ballot, the OSCE — an office for democracy and human rights — accused state broadcasters of bias by “clearly” promoting the then-ruling party and demonstrating “open hostility toward the opposition.” Public TV, the main source of news for many Poles, also became notorious for repeatedly airing clips of Tusk speaking in German and alleged he was doing Berlin’s bidding.

Parliament Speaker Szymon Holownia sought to defuse the tensions. “I talked with the president and we agreed that we will start, as soon as it will be possible, to work on a bill that will find a solution to the chaos around public media,” he told lawmakers on Thursday.

--With assistance from Wojciech Moskwa.

(Updates with more details starting in the second paragraph.)

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