New Polish government fires state media leadership. Opposition protests
Photo: New government in Poland decided to dismiss the leadership of state-owned media (Getty Images)
In Poland, the new government has decided to dismiss the leadership of state-owned media, sparking protests from the opposition party Law and Justice, reports BBC.
In particular, on December 19, the Polish parliament supported a resolution calling for independence, objectivity, and pluralism in state television and radio.
Today, on December 20, Poland's Minister of Culture, Bartlomiej Sienkiewicz, dismissed the leadership of state-owned media in response to the resolution.
In response to the resolution, members of the Law and Justice party, which was in power until the fall elections, began a sit-in protest at the headquarters of the state television channel TVP. As a result, the channel suspended its broadcast.
The leader of the party, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, joined the protest and spent the entire night from December 19 to December 20 at the headquarters.
Meanwhile, former Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, a representative of the PiS party, condemned the actions of the new Prime Minister Donald Tusk's government and called them "illegal."
As reported by the BBC, in recent years, the evening news broadcasts on TVP and TVP Info "have turned into a propaganda machine" for the PiS government. Since coming to power in 2015, the party has amended Polish media laws, allowing it to dismiss board members and hire journalists who praised its policies in state-owned media.
Under the PiS rule, Poland has dropped from 18th to 57th place in the World Press Freedom Index.
New government in Poland
Recall that last week, Donald Tusk became the new Prime Minister of Poland. He took the oath on December 13.
For more details on what to expect from the new government in Ukraine, refer to RBC-Ukraine's material.
