Heads of Poland’s oldest state broadcaster was fired by the new government for propaganda reasons and the news channel was shut down

The heads of Poland’s oldest state broadcaster were ousted and the news channel was shut down by the new government of Donald Tusk.

The heads of TVP, Polish Radio and state news agency PAP were sacked yesterday, while the new Tusk-led coalition dismissed TVP as a propaganda channel linked to the Law and Justice party (PiS) – the country’s previous ruling government.

In response, PiS leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski condemned the Tusk government’s “illegal actions” and joined a protest march outside TVP headquarters in the Polish capital Warsaw overnight. Last night, TVP Info, the 24-hour news service, symbolically changed its headlines from red to black before they stopped broadcasting.

The Polish Ministry of Finance owns 100% of the 70-year-old state broadcaster and “the need for such a measure and its justification are set out in the decision of the Polish state broadcaster.” [parliament] of the Republic of Poland from December 19, 2023,” the Polish Ministry of Culture said, saying the move was taken to “restore the rule of law and the impartiality and reliability of the public media and the Polish Press Agency.”

“The decision to dismiss the current authorities and appoint new ones was taken during the general meetings by the owner of the companies, represented by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage, who has full autonomy in decision-making,” the ministry said. . Frame.

Management and boards were fired this morning and Tusk’s new coalition, which came to power last week after a difficult few months, promised to create new news channels that take a more balanced approach.

In recent years, TVP has been widely seen as a propaganda machine for Kaczynski’s right-wing government, which has consistently aligned itself with the PiS. Conversely, the PiS threatened to close TVN, which is owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, a local broadcaster that the government first tried to shut down through foreign ownership rules and then claimed was pro-Russian. None of these moves were successful before last year’s election.

State media are highly valued in Poland and about a third of people rely on them for their news because they do not have access to private channels, the BBC said.

Besides news channels, TVP also operates a number of linear and sports channels, which recently commissioned war serials The Bay of Spies.

Tusk, who is leading Poland for a second term and is a former president of the European Council, was elected by lawmakers last week, two months after elections in which PiS won the most votes but fell short of a parliamentary majority. PiS was in power for eight years.

Deadline has reached out to TVP for comment.