The International Press Institute (IPI) has published a new report examining pending media reforms in Poland and the country’s alignment with the European Media Freedom Act (EMFA).
The 2026 country report is part of the Media Capture Monitoring Report, produced annually by IPI and our partner the Media and Journalism Research Center (MJRC).
As of October 2026, Poland has not yet adopted the new media law that would align it with the EMFA, despite the development of media reform legislation by the government.
The challenges identified in previous reports remain unresolved: the independence of the media regulator, the politicisation of public service media, politically dependent state financing and insufficient safeguards for media pluralism, all against a background of high socio-political and media polarisation.
As a result of political deadlock, media freedom progress in Poland remains in limbo and media capture remains engrained, despite clear political will for reform.
This is the third iteration of the Media Capture Monitoring Report, which covers eight European Union countries: Bulgaria, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Spain.
IPI and MJRC have announced a major expansion of the annual report series to all 27 EU Member States shortly, creating a new EMFA implementation monitor.
These reports are intended as a vital resource for media rights organizations, civil society groups, policymakers, and advocates dedicated to monitoring and fostering media freedom across the EU.
Each country assesses the four safeguards in the EMFA that bear most directly on media capture: the independence of public service media, the independence of media regulators, protection against the misuse of state funds to influence the media, and transparency of media ownership and safeguards for media pluralism.
The 2026 edition follows the EMFA’s first year of full application, from August 8, 2025. Written by national experts and edited by MJRC and IPI, the reports are deliberately short: they track what has changed since the 2025 baseline assessment and identify the problems that remain.
The project is part of the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR), a Europe-wide mechanism which tracks, monitors and responds to violations of press and media freedom in EU Member States and Candidate Countries. It is co-funded by the European Commission.
This report was coordinated by IPI and the MJRC as part of IPI’s work under the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR), a Europe-wide mechanism which tracks, monitors and responds to violations of press and media freedom in EU Member States and Candidate Countries.
