Bartlomiej Sienkiewicz, who is Poland’s new culture minister, Wednesday (Dec 27) announced the liquidation of all public media, including state television, radio and news agency, ahead of a restructuring.
The public media have been seen as a mouthpiece of the previous populist-nationalist government.
The move would “guarantee the working and restructuring” of the public television and radio stations and national press agency PAP while avoiding staff layoffs, said Sienkiewicz in a statement posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.
He wrote that the “liquidation status can be withdrawn at any time by the owner”, the state.
“Due to the decision of the President of the Republic of Poland to suspend financing of public media, I decided to put into liquidation the companies Telewizja Polska SA, Polskie Radio SA and Polska Agencja Prasowa SA,” the statement on X read.
“In the current situation, such action will ensure the continued operation of these companies, carry out the necessary restructuring and prevent layoffs of employees in the above-mentioned companies,” it added.
It is believed that the announcement is likely to aggravate the standoff between the government and President Andrzej Duda, who is an ally of the previous administration, who has criticised the government’s reforms and vetoed subsidies to state media.
Earlier this month, Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s government took power after eight years of rule by the right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) party.
The pro-European Union coalition headed by Tusk started an overhaul of state media institutions. Previously, critics have alleged that the public media had become propaganda outlets during the PiS years in power.
It justified last week’s sacking of the management of public media as a bid to restore “impartiality”.
In response, PiS lawmaker Joanna Lichocka said in a post on X that “Tusk’s government is destroying the Polish media”.
“This is an act which damages the state,” she added.
(With inputs from agencies)
