Jacek Karnowski is a Polish journalist and publicist, editor-in-chief of the weekly “Sieci” and the conservative television channel “wPolsce24”. On April 9th, a court annulled the channel’s licence for its digital terrestrial television.
We talk about the situation for conservative media and freedom of speech in Poland.
After the Tusk government’s latest scandals, there was just a new attack on the Polish conservative media. In this case, against your television channel.
Yes, the Administrative Court at the level of the Warsaw Voivodeship (region) has unexpectedly decided to cancel the decision of the National Media Board (KRRiT) that had given wPolsce24 the licence for digital terrestrial television. The court has used as a pretext the documents of a very small and unknown company, called ‘Free Media,’ which lost the tender. This is a totally new precedent because, according to the law, the KRRiT is free to make its decisions regarding radio and television. This is another example of the intrusiveness of the judiciary and politics in the media. Never before has a court cancelled the concession of a media outlet and, of course, the judge is linked to the opposition to the previous Law and Justice government.
Of course, all this falls under the broad umbrella of Tusk’s government. He calls it “fighting democracy,” which in Polish sounds very much like “barking democracy,” and the latter term is becoming very popular to define what Tusk is doing: turning Poland into a kind of regime, a new regime that we cannot compare with those of the past, but which is no longer a democracy. Right now, we have opposition parties that illegally do not receive state money; MPs and activists in jail; a huge number of trials and accusations against the opposition; and actions against the media. This is typical of regimes like Russia or Belarus in their early stages, and it is very dangerous.
What are the consequences of this cancellation, and can you continue to broadcast?
It is not the last stage of the procedure and KRRiT is going to appeal to a higher administrative court. So we can continue broadcasting and we also have a satellite and cable TV concession. But, at the same time, they have initiated parliamentary proceedings against the head of KRRiT, because they want to remove him from his post and paralyse the institution. If the higher administrative court upholds the cancellation, a new procedure has to be initiated to grant the concession, but that will not happen if the KRRiT is paralysed.
To me, it is obvious that this is a political decision; they want more control because economically and socially the government has disenchanted even its own base. If you look at the deeper data, attitudes towards the government, satisfaction with the standard of living, and optimism about the economic situation, they are falling. They are losing and that is why they are resorting to more persecution, more circus instead of bread.
In the European context, we have to look at what has happened in Romania and France. Poland seems to be turning into a laboratory of a liberal democracy that uses illiberal and anti-democratic tools to suppress discontent and preserve its power. There is only one democratic act left in Poland, and that is voting, which I hope will be counted correctly, but the balance of power, judicial independence, and impartial institutions are over.
This is precisely what Brussels accused Law and Justice of when it was in government.
Yes, but all this was a false alarm created for political reasons and widely spread around the world. Now our democracy is in real danger, some say it is already finished, and there is absolute silence in the vast majority of the media.
And what about the non-conservative Polish media?
For decades, these media have been bought to attack Law and Justice by ‘post-colonial’ forces, forces that try to keep Poland as if it were a colony. They have always pretended to be objective, but during the eight years of the last Law and Justice government, in which there were great economic and social successes, they gave no credit to the government. Now they act as Tusk’s soldiers and are much more aggressive and disciplined. For example, national television, which should be independent, has started a campaign against the presidential candidate Karol Nawrocki, using his private life and all kinds of rumours to attack him. There are some private media that maintain a certain impartiality, but they seem more interested in receiving state subsidies. Only the conservative and right-wing media are standing up to the Tusk government, the rest are repeating its messages and participating in its propaganda actions: arrests, accusations, etc.
Regarding Nawrocki, do you think the conservative candidate has a chance?
Trzaskowski, the government candidate, is very confident, but the sum of the two right-wing candidates, Nawrocki and Mentzen, is much higher in votes. In Poland, we are seeing that the youth, including women, are turning right-wing, especially towards the Konfederacja party. This does not seem to affect Trzaskowski, who says he will win the second round with 58% of the vote when no candidate has ever got more than 54%. It will be very tough, but I am convinced that the tide is against the Tusk government. People want change and I am quite optimistic that Trzaskowski will not be crowned as the next king of Poland at a time when we are celebrating the millennium of the coronation of the first Polish king in 1025. It is very symbolic that this date coincides with this clash of visions.
Next Saturday there is a march in Warsaw in connection with this historic event, but I have seen that there is a call to defend the freedom and independence of the media.
Yes, the demonstration is organised by MEP Patrick Jaki to celebrate the millennium, but of course there is a political component in this context. The message is that Poles are fighting and not giving up. These are times when people have to be united because we live in very difficult times.