The dispute over the controversial fine imposed on the Polish national commercial broadcaster TVN shows no sign of abating.
Although we’re only a handful of days into the New Year there has already been time for a working meeting between TVN board members, members of the National Broadcasting Council (KRRiT) and experts from both sides. At its initiative, the regulator will also hold a meeting with NGOs and journalists’ associations this Friday, January 5.
Furthermore, the KRRiT has officially denied a report in the Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza that the Father Rydzyk, a cleric whose media interests include the conservative radio station Radio Maryja, was behind the regulator’s decision to impose the fine.
In KRRiT’s view, the report, which appeared on December 27, effectively questioned its impartiality and was therefore unacceptable.
On top of all this, Witold Kolodziejski, the head of KRRiT, has insisted to the local media that the fine on TVN had nothing to do with the station’s political views.
Few at the KRRiT, or indeed anywhere else for that matter, would have predicted the uproar caused by the PLN1.48 million fine. Imposed just a month ago for the reporting of events outside the Polish parliament (Sejm) on the news channel TVN24 a year earlier, it sent shock waves beyond Poland and was even criticised by the US’s Department of Justice.
The latter undoubtedly hit a raw nerve in Poland and the subsequent dialogue between the KRRiT, TVN and others points to some degree of backtracking. However, the fine still stands and as long as it does the controversy will continue.
At the heart of the dispute are ultimately media freedom and the upcoming changes to the permitted level of foreign ownership in Polish media assets. These will of course impact TVN, which backed by Scripps Networks Interactive, but to what degree we do not yet know.
