The International Press Institute (IPI) was joined by media freedom partners in providing a formal contribution to the public consultation into the draft act to amend the Polish Broadcasting and Television Act – a major and much needed overhaul of the country’s media legislation.

The draft reform, published by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, also represents a core element of the implementation of the EU’s European Media Freedom Act (EMFA) in Poland. The public consultation closed on January 23.

The submission was made by IPI along with the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF), the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and Free Press Unlimited (FPU), as part of the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR). IPI led the drafting of the submission.

Overall, IPI and our partner organizations assess that the draft act to amend the Broadcasting and Television Act overall represents a positive but incomplete initiative to reform Polish media legislation and create additional safeguards to protect free and independent media in Poland. In its current form it also represents a rule of law-oriented effort to implement elements of EMFA.

If ultimately passed, and improved with our recommendations, we believe these reforms would partially undo damage done to Poland’s landscape for media freedom under previous governments and construct much needed defences against future capture of the media ecosystem.

However, the draft is undermined by the proposed changes to the system of funding for the public media, which would result in a substantial loss of revenue and could result in unstable annual fluctuations in budgeting.

Drastic cuts to the funding for public media must be addressed and additional safeguards must be implemented to ensure the independence of the reformed KRRiT is undertaken before its mandate is significantly extended. Recommendations are outlined in the analysis.

Until reforms are fulfilled, Poland will remain frozen in a state of media freedom limbo: trapped with many of the previous damaging changes but unable to reverse them or safeguard against future threats. While other EU countries have already implemented the European Media Freedom Act, Poland lags behind.

IPI remains open to further communication and dialogue with the Polish government and President in the ongoing creation and debate on the implementation of this bill and wider EMFA reforms, as well as with the journalistic and civil society community.