Poland’s Government Tightens Its Control Over Media

Enlarge this image

Journalist Mariusz Kowalewski quit his job at Poland’s national public broadcaster TVP after editors asked him to follow an outspoken critic of the country’s ruling party with a drone. «This was an intimidation method straight out of communism, he says.

Rob Schmitz/NPR

hide caption

toggle caption

Rob Schmitz/NPR

Enlarge this image

Front pages of main polish newspapers are pictured one day after the first round of the presidential election in Poland on June 29, 2020. European poll observers say «media bias influenced recent Polish elections.

Janek Skarzynski/AFP via Getty Images

hide caption

toggle caption

Janek Skarzynski/AFP via Getty Images

Enlarge this image

Protesters hold signs demanding the resignation of TVP chairman Jacek Kurski in Warsaw, Poland, on Jan. 26, 2019, blaming the atmosphere created by the government-controlled broadcaster’s messaging for the killing of of Gdansk Mayor Pawel Adamowicz.

Czarek Sokolowski/AP

hide caption

toggle caption

Czarek Sokolowski/AP

Protesters hold signs demanding the resignation of TVP chairman Jacek Kurski in Warsaw, Poland, on Jan. 26, 2019, blaming the atmosphere created by the government-controlled broadcaster’s messaging for the killing of of Gdansk Mayor Pawel Adamowicz.

Czarek Sokolowski/AP

Propaganda then and now

At 7:30 each evening, TVP’s nightly news program continues to enjoy the highest ratings in the country. And as its high-paced theme song pipes into televisions across the country from its studios above central Warsaw, in the street below, in the freezing winter weather, a dedicated group of protesters blare another song from their megaphones: the broadcaster’s nightly news theme from Poland’s communist era.

The news was propaganda then — and it’s returned to propaganda now, says protest organizer Karol Grabski. «We’ve come here every day since the death of Mayor Adamowicz, who was murdered in Gdansk, he says.

Gdansk Mayor Pawel Adamowicz — a liberal critic of Law and Justice — was stabbed to death while he was on stage at a charity event in January 2019. Adamowicz had been a target of dozens of TVP news stories criticizing him for real estate dealings, his openness to migrants and his support of LGBT rights. Critics blame the network for creating an atmosphere that led to his murder.

Grabski leads his group of protesters in a chant that echoes through the empty city streets of Warsaw: «TVP Lies! TVP Lies!

Rob Schmitz reported in Warsaw, Poland. Grzegorz Sokol, Aga Suszko and Jan Smolenski contributed to this report from Warsaw.