His Excellency Leszek Miller
Prime Minister of Poland
Chancellery of the Prime Minister
Warsaw
Poland
Fax: (004822) 621 88 27
Vienna, 8 April 2002
Your Excellency,
The International Press Institute (IPI), the global network of editors, leading journalists and media executives, is deeply concerned about the recent decision of the Polish government to pass a restrictive broadcasting law.
According to information provided to IPI, on 9 March the ruling Polish coalition government, led by the Sojusz Lewicy Demokratycznej party (“the SLD”), informed the public that it had adopted a new draft of the Broadcast Law (“the draft law”) containing restrictive provisions regarding cross-ownership. Within days of this statement, Prime Minister Leszek Miller signed the draft law and sent it before parliament where the coalition party has a majority in both houses. The draft law is scheduled under the so-called “fast-track” procedure with the first reading that took place on 5 April and it is expected that the law will pass through the lower chamber of parliament within four weeks at most of that date. During this procedure no copy of the proposed legislation has been made available to interested parties.
Due to the secrecy surrounding its passage, IPI has been unable to obtain a copy of the draft law. However, IPI has been reliably informed that it contains significant cross-ownership restrictions which limits broadcasters to a single TV or national radio channel, or to a single station in any local market. The draft law also contains provisions that strengthen the position of the state-owned media and widens their scope for commercial activities. Perhaps most strikingly, it also prohibits publishers of national newspapers from owning a national radio or TV channel and exempts the state media from the draft law’s restrictions.
Worryingly, comments made in public by government officials indicate that the draft law may have been specifically designed to weaken Agora, the owner of Gazeta Wyborcza – the largest independent quality daily in Poland. On 13 March, Lech Nikolski, the Prime Minister’s Chief of Staff, while speaking on public television, said that, since Gazeta Wyborcza had said, “Stop SLD”, “SLD will now stop Agora”. Responding to protests about the draft law from all of the Polish media, the Undersecretary for Culture, Aleksandra Jakubowska, said, “It’s just a protest of a few companies whose interest it is to monopolise the market.”
IPI notes that Deputy Prime Minister Marek Pol has spoken vaguely in the press about the need to combat the “threat of excessive monopolisation around a certain group of views, certain editorial office”. However, this view fails to take into account the considerable strength of the state media inside Poland.
The government controls four national TV channels and four national radio channels, each funded by both mandatory licence fees and revenues from advertising. Under Polish law, the state media can compete on the same terms as the commercial media for advertising revenues. They are also bound by the same restrictions. In addition, it owns 49 per cent of the national newspaper Rzeczpospolita.
Although IPI does not intend to deal with the finer details of cross-ownership in this present letter, it feels strongly that a level-playing field should be created. To fail to do this would inevitably mean that the state media would have a far greater advantage in the market place.
A result which would have severe implications for press freedom and media plurality. Furthermore, by making a distinction between the two types of media, the government is breaching the principle that government institutions should not be above their own laws.
With regard to the complete lack of transparency on this issue, IPI believes that it reveals the government’s true intentions, namely that it has devised a law to protect its own media and disadvantage the independent media; most notably those organisations owned by Agora. IPI is deeply troubled by the failure of the government to discuss the draft law with interested parties. A dialogue with the media would have enabled the government to appreciate their concerns and would have led to a more inclusive and democratic process.
Therefore, bearing the above in mind, IPI invites Your Excellency to reconsider your approach to the draft law. IPI would invite you to withdraw the draft law, invite discussion on the subject from interested parties and then redraft it taking into account the views and perspectives of the independent media. By doing so you will be upholding press freedom and ensuring that there is plurality in the media market in Poland.
We thank you for your attention.
Yours sincerely,
Johann P. Fritz
Director
c.c.
His Excellency
Mr. Aleksander Kwasniewski
President of the Republic of Poland
Ul. Wiejska 10
00-902 Warsaw
Poland
Fax ++48/22 695 11 09
His Excellency
Mr. Leszek Miller
Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland
Al. Ujazdowskie 1/3
00-583 Warsaw
Poland
Fax ++48/22 621 88 27
His Excellency
Mr. Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz
Minister of Foreign Affairs
Al. Szucha 23
00-580 Warsaw
Poland
Fax ++48/22 629 0500
H.E.
Ms. Danuta Huebner
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs
Al. Szucha 23
00-580 Warsaw
Poland
Fax ++48/22 629 0500
The Parliament
Mr. Marek Borowski
Marshal
The Parliament of the Republic of Poland
Ul. Wiejska 4/6/8
00-902 Warsaw
fax 48/22 694 22 52
Mr. Józef Oleksy
Head of the European Committee
The Parliament of the Republic of Poland
Ul. Wiejska 4/6/8
00-902 Warsaw
fax 48/22 694 22 52
Mr. Ryszard Kalisz
Head of the Legislative Committee
The Parliament of the Republic of Poland
Ul. Wiejska 4/6/8
00-902 Warsaw
fax 48/22 694 22 52
Mr. Jerzy Wenderlich
Head of the Culture and Media Committee
The Parliament of the Republic of Poland
Ul. Wiejska 4/6/8
00-902 Warsaw
fax 48/22 694 22 52
Mr. Adam Stanislaw Szejnfeld
Head of the Economic Committee
The Parliament of the Republic of Poland
Ul. Wiejska 4/6/8
00-902 Warsaw
fax 48/22 694 22 52
Mr. Grzegorz Kurczuk
Head of the Justice and Human Rights Committee
The Parliament of the Republic of Poland
Ul. Wiejska 4/6/8
00-902 Warsaw
fax 48/22 694 22 52
Mr. Jerzy Jaskiernia
Head of the Democratic Left Alliance Parliamentary Club
The Parliament of the Republic of Poland
Ul. Wiejska 4/6/8
fax 48/22 694 22 52
Mr. Maciej Plazynski
Head of the Parliamentary Club of the Civic Platform
The Parliament of the Republic of Poland
Ul. Wiejska 4/6/8
00-902 Warsaw
fax 48/22 694 22 52
Mr. Jaroslaw Kaczynski
Head of the Law and Justice Parliamentary Club
The Parliament of the Republic of Poland
Ul. Wiejska 4/6/8
00-902 Warsaw
fax 48/22 694 22 52
Mr. Zbigniew Kuzmiuk
Head of the Polish Peasant Party Parliamentary Club
The Parliament of the Republic of Poland
Ul. Wiejska 4/6/8
00-902 Warsaw
fax 48/22 694 22 52
Mr. Ireneusz Niewiarowski
Head of the People’s Conservative Party Parliamentary Group
The Parliament of the Republic of Poland
Ul. Wiejska 4/6/8
00-902 Warsaw
fax 48/22 694 22 52
Mr. Janusz Lisak
Head of the Parliamentary Club of the Union of Labour
The Parliament of the Republic of Poland
Ul. Wiejska 4/6/8
00-902 Warsaw
fax 48/22 694 22 52
The National Broadcasting Council
Ms. Danuta Waniek
The National Broadcasting Council
Skwer Ks. Kard. Stefana Wyszynskiego 9
01-015 Warsaw
fax: 48/22 838 35 01
Mr. Juliusz Braun
The President of the National Broadcasting Council
Skwer Ks. Kard. Stefana Wyszynskiego 9
01-015 Warsaw
fax: 48/22 838 35 01
Mr. Waldemar Dubaniowski
The National Broadcasting Council
Skwer Ks. Kard. Stefana Wyszynskiego 9
01-015 Warsaw
fax: 48/22 838 35 01
Mr. Wlodzimierz Czarzasty
The National Broadcasting Council
Skwer Ks. Kard. Stefana Wyszynskiego 9
01-015 Warsaw
fax: 48/22 838 35 01
Mr. Adam Halber
The National Broadcasting Council
Skwer Ks. Kard. Stefana Wyszynskiego 9
01-015 Warsaw
fax: 48/22 838 35 01
Mr. Jaroslaw Sellin
The National Broadcasting Council
Skwer Ks. Kard. Stefana Wyszynskiego 9
01-015 Warsaw
fax: 48/22 838 35 01
Mr. Aleksander Luczak
The National Broadcasting Council
Skwer Ks. Kard. Stefana Wyszynskiego 9
01-015 Warsaw
fax: 48/22 838 35 01
Mr. Jan Sek
The National Broadcasting Council
Skwer Ks. Kard. Stefana Wyszynskiego 9
01-015 Warsaw
fax: 48/22 838 35 01
Mr. Lech Jaworski
The National Broadcasting Council
Skwer Ks. Kard. Stefana Wyszynskiego 9
01-015 Warsaw
fax: 48/22 838 35 01
For further inquiries on Poland, please contact the IPI Secretariat on Tel: +431-512 90 11
