"Warsaw under supervision"

[casper]

Quote:
European Commissioner for the digital economy Guenther Oettinger threatened on Sunday to Warsaw will start the process never seen before, for the violation of the fundamental values of the European Union, as the Polish Parliament passed a law that public media placed under the control of the conservative party in power.

link:
https://translate.google.hr/translate?sl=hr&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=hr&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fdnevnik.hr%2Fvijesti%2Fsvijet%2Fvarsavi-prijeti-postupak-zbog-ugrozavanja-pravne-drzave---421755.html&edit-text=

Freedom of speech ?

 

[Alada]

Unfortunately the linked Google translate article was hard to understand, and there’s very little to be found in English on the story but I did find this below. Yeah, it does seem like an exercise in state control:

Senior TV managers resign in Poland in anticipation of new media law

Four senior managers at Poland's public broadcaster TVP have announced their resignations. Poland's imminent adoption of new media legislation would likely have resulted in their dismissals.

The Polish newspaper "Gazeta Wyborcza" reported that four senior managers at Poland's public broadcaster TVP had announced their resignations. The news website wirtualnemedia.pl added that the resignations came from the heads of the channels TVP1, TVP2, TVP Kultura and the human resource department of the TVP group. The director-general at TVP reportedly accepted the notices.

The daily "Gazeta Wyborcza" explained that the managers in question may likely have intended to pre-empt their anticipated dismissals from the public broadcaster after a controversial new law passed through both chambers of the Polish parliament, which would allow the ruling party to choose their own heads for the public broadcaster.

The new media law would imply that all current senior management at public broadcasters across Poland - including the boards of directors and their members - would lose their positions, with the country's treasury being left in charge of choosing their successors.

Critics say the move would see Poland's public TV and radio stations being reduced to becoming mouthpieces for the government, affecting a network of broadcasters across the country.

Resignations include TV heavyweight Tomazs Lis

Among those resigning were the head of TVP Kultura Katarzyna Janowska and Tomazs Lis, one of Poland's most recognized journalists.

"No one can force Poland to shut its mouth. No one can force me to shut my mouth," he said, announcing that he would be continuing his career elsewhere - presumably at a private station.

A changing media landscape - by official mandate

Poland is about to adopt new legislation, which would effectively hand editorial and financial control of the country's public broadcasters over to the ruling "Law and Justice" party (PiS).

After passing through both chambers of parliament, the legal draft now only requires President Andrzej Duda's signature to be enacted into law. PiS leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski had announced before that this would be the first of a series of media reforms intended to shape the landscape of Poland's public TV and radio stations in accordance to the conservative worldview represented by PiS.

Human rights groups and journalists' associations have come out in protest against the new regulation. These include the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and the Reporters Without Borders (RSF).

 

[Laura]

EU Commissioner Warns Poland On New Media Law: Report

http://www.ndtv.com/world-news/eu-commissioner-warns-poland-on-new-media-law-report-1261663

Berlin: European Union (EU) Commissioner Gunther Oettinger today threatened to put Poland on notice for infringing on common European values by passing legislation giving the government control of the state media.

The move would start a series of steps that, if the law remains in place, could eventually see Warsaw lose its voting rights at the European Council, the organisation that groups the leaders of all 28 EU nations.

In an interview with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) newspaper, Oettinger, who is commissioner for the digital economy and society, warned: "Many reasons exist for us to activate the 'Rule of Law mechanism' and for us to place Warsaw under monitoring."

His remarks come after Poland's conservative government on Wednesday took control of state media after new legislation was passed giving it the power to directly appoint the heads of public broadcasters, despite EU concern and condemnation from rights watchdogs.

According to FAZ, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker has placed the issue on the agenda of the commission's next meeting on January 13.

The newspaper reported that Juncker was seeking to start a procedure in place since 2014 to protect against "systemic dangers to the rule of law".

Under that procedure, if the country in question does not accept changes to proposals put forward by the commission, the commission can initiate a "procedure over the violation of fundamental European values", FAZ said.

Though the procedure has not yet been initiated, the potential sanctions could include "the withdrawal of voting rights" for the country in question, according to FAZ.

Oettinger plans to call for the procedure to be initiated against Poland, FAZ wrote, citing him as saying: "A director (of public radio or television) cannot be dismissed without cause. It would be arbitrary."

Under the new law, senior figures in public radio and television will in future be appointed -- and sacked -- by the treasury minister, and no longer through contests by the National Broadcasting Council.

The new legislation will also see the current managers and supervisory board members of Poland's public broadcasters fired with immediate effect.

It has been met with sharp criticism from media rights organisations including Reporters Without Borders, the European Broadcasting Union and the Association of European Journalists.

Story First Published: January 03, 2016 12:22 IST

 

[Joe]

Seems to me that Poland is simply being more honest here than other European states. The BBC for example is entirely controlled by the British government, they just do it by more covert means.

 

[Alada]

Seems to me that Poland is simply being more honest here than other European states. The BBC for example is entirely controlled by the British government, they just do it by more covert means.

Yes, true. For the majority of Brits I think it would be hard to accept the idea that there could be anything wrong at ‘fair and impartial’ the BBC. That somehow the BBC is ‘above and beyond all that’ is a message driven home from birth – you can’t say that, it’s the BBC! It would be like criticising Churchill for being a drunken racist, the idea doesn’t fit with the dominant historical narrative.

 

[casper]

20 000 Poles gathered today on the streets of several cities across the country to protest against the conservative government decision to put under the control of public medije.Link:

https://translate.google.hr/translate?sl=hr&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=hr&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.index.hr%2Fvijesti%2Fclanak%2Fustanak-poljaka-protiv-vlade-koja-zeli-kontrolirati-javne-medije-ne-cenzuri%2F867176.aspx&edit-text=

 

[Renaissance]

Seems to me that Poland is simply being more honest here than other European states. The BBC for example is entirely controlled by the British government, they just do it by more covert means.

Yeah, kind of odd that they don't just follow the Anglo-American empire's way of doing things and just covertly control the media. Perhaps fascist energies are growing so strong that those tapped into them aren't worried about maintaining much of a mask anymore.

 

[Kasia]

http://charlescrawford.biz/2016/01/07/pis-and-polands-democracy/

These idiotic EU noises come under authority Brussels has to act when there are ‘systemic threats to the rule of law’ in a member state. This is so obviously not the case in Poland now that one wonders what is making senior EU people act in this way. Probably they have been frothed up to do so by members of the former Polish government embedded in EU senior positions and their liberal-minded media pals in Warsaw. Anything less likely to make the Kaczynski tendency in Poland reconsider its position is impossible to imagine.

When communism crashed in Poland the Solidarity leadership took a decision to draw a ‘thick line’ and leave the (communist) past behind. This was hailed by many people (but not all Poles) as a profoundly wise/moral move, allowing the former communists to join democratic society if they espoused democratic principles. Hence in a few years former communist President Kwasniewski beat Lech Walesa himself to win the Presidency.

PiS (who have plenty of ex-Solidarity people in their ranks including J Kaczynski himself) tend to think that that ‘thick line’ was too generous to the former communists and their privileged children, many of whom have done impressively well in keeping senior roles in public and business life and skewing public debate in a leftist direction. They want to recalibrate things somewhat so that Poles who do not come from that crafty self-serving communist tradition (or who have been historically disadvantaged) get a better chance. Hence moves now to clean out a range of people from eg the state media and the court system.

Imagine that a conservative-minded UK government wants to make the publicly-funded BBC less liberal-Left (as it trivially obviously is). It would take steps to replace a number of senior BBC people with other no less conscientious/principled Brits of a different political instincts. Imagine the shrill squeals and wailings from the London and Brussels chatterati.

Something roughly like this is going on in Poland, except that in Poland the political bias of the main state TV channels against PiS in the presidential elections last year has been an obvious disgrace (whatever you think of PiS) that needed and is now getting a swift kick up the trousers.

Result? In a few years’ time Poland will have elections as scheduled and PiS will do well again, or not. Democracy in Poland will carry on in good shape (subject to wider European convulsions of course).

Poland like everywhere else is complicated. The people running it now are not stupid, are rather left of centre themselves in key respects, and have one of Europe’s most convincing democratic political mandates. Even if you don’t agree with them, spend a little time in exploring what is really going on, and why policies that look unattractive now may in fact turn out not so bad in a few years’ time.

Behind the sermons and threats stemming from Brussels is hiding a desire to keep in Poland not "democracy" and "rule of law", but the German influence of political elites, banks and corporations whose position Germany considers to be at least partly threatened after changing the ruling in Warsaw. Keep in mind that only Germans (and German media in Poland) are raising the alarm in tandem with the leftist Polish media and organisations supported by...George Soros who has recently also criticized the Polish democratically elected government.

Recent demonstrations in Poland have been organized by these leftist financial circles protecting interests of banks, corporations, leftist "art" and foreign (mainly German) media. Among them there are people who in the past served Moscow and since 1990s they have been serving Brussels. They are shouting the most cause they are loosing influence and money (mainly public).

 

[Kasia]

20 000 Poles gathered today on the streets of several cities across the country to protest against the conservative government decision to put under the control of public medije.Link:

https://translate.google.hr/translate?sl=hr&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=hr&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.index.hr%2Fvijesti%2Fclanak%2Fustanak-poljaka-protiv-vlade-koja-zeli-kontrolirati-javne-medije-ne-cenzuri%2F867176.aspx&edit-text=

That's the lie....

 

[Kasia]

http://wpolityce.pl/polityka/277644-minister-sprawiedliwosci-zbigniew-ziobro-w-liscie-do-komisarza-oettingera-protestuje-przeciwko-nagonce-na-nowy-rzad-i-wytyka-klamstwa-na-temat-polski-przeczytaj

Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro in a letter to Commissioner Oettinger protests against hate campaign set on a new government (translated by Google)

Dear Commissioner,

I'm not in the habit of responding to silly remarks about Poland uttered by foreign politicians, because they speak volumes about themselves. But to write this letter has prompted me what You did not say, and what from You – as Commissioner of the European Union responsible for the media – I has expected.

Public opinion in Germany and Poland rocked the massive sexual attacks on women that occurred on New Year's Eve in German cities. The events that raise concern also for the safety of Poles living in Germany, have been suppressed for a few days by the German media.
Former German Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich called it simply the cartel of silence. Censoring of this information by the German media dumbfounded public opinion in the world. I waited in vain for a strong reaction from the You at such a flagrant violation of citizens' right to information. I came to the unpleasant conclusion that it’s easier for You to talk about fictitious threats to media freedom in other countries than condemn censorship in his homeland.

Mr Oettinger,

a week ago in an interview for "Frankfurter Allgemeinen Sonntagszeitung" you criticized actions democratically elected Polish parliament and government that they are to restore the objectivity and independence of the public media in Poland. You demanded to put Poland under supervision.

This kind of words, spoken by a German politician arouse among Poles the worst connotations. Also, in me as I am the grandson of a Polish officer who, during World War II fought in the underground Home Army with the "German supervision."

Dear Commissioner,

Where were You when in June 2014 agents of special services stormed the editor of one of the biggest weeklies in Poland "Wprost" and struggled with its editor-in-chief to wrested from him his portable computer with recordings compromising the previous government, headed by the current head European Council, Donald Tusk?! In your native country similar intrusion to the editor of the weekly "Der Spiegel" in 1962 was a huge scandal and led to the collapse of the government.

Why escaped Your’s mind, which repeatedly informed all the Polish media that more than 80 Polish journalists and lawyers who dealt with the matter of compromising the previous government, were bugged?! The special services have used undercover operatives to keep under surveillance independent editorials.

Will you find an excuse for the release a half thousand employees of the Polish Television and forcing them to work in the outer companies in humiliating conditions made during the reign PO-PSL previous coalition?! These parties are still Your’s coalition partners in the EPP Group in the European Parliament. An introduction to the mass purges of public television was the cancellation of several dozen independent journalists shortly after the takeover of power by the previous government team.

How do you assess the fact that the previous government led to the release of the editor-in-chief and journalists of the independent, influential daily newspaper "Rzeczpospolita" daily and widely-read weekly "Uważam Rze"? Most of the shares in both newspapers, the previous government passed into the hands of a friendly businessman. Resignations were a consequence of a single article, which put into question what the government established during an investigation on the plane crash in Smolensk, which killed coming from the opposite political camp, Polish President.

Why are you silent when the German-Swiss publisher Ringier Axel Springer, owner of several media in Poland including "Newsweek", in a dramatic way prejudice the impartiality of the press and openly supports protests aimed at democratic Polish parliament and government?! The authorities of the foreign company with approved the behavior of the chief editor of "Newsweek" Tomasz Lis, who came out of the role of a journalist, and during street demonstrations fueled anti-government speech. Would you be silent if the head of the largest German weekly "Der Spiegel" Klaus Brinkbäumer demonstrated in the center of Berlin, demanding the removal, by mass protests, the government of Angela Merkel ?!

Dear Commissioner,

in Your native country, Germany, there is a saying: "cuius regions – eius radio," that means "whose power – those radio." It boils down to a simple principle that heads of public radio and television appoint politicians currently exercising power. The law on the media, over which works the Polish government, provides a much more democratic solution. It is assumed that the National Media Council will elect the president and both houses of parliament.

I do not have the nerve o Yours to teach Germans to adopt similar principles. I will not exhort to leave the German flag at half mast, in connection with the censor information on New Year's Eve attacks – as You had proposed to make the flags of the countries of the European Union, which are indebted to Germany. Please, at least because of the seriousness of your office to be more circumspect in your statements, and above all objective.

Yours sincerely

Zbigniew Ziobro

 

[Kasia]

Seems to me that Poland is simply being more honest here than other European states. The BBC for example is entirely controlled by the British government, they just do it by more covert means.

Yeah, kind of odd that they don't just follow the Anglo-American empire's way of doing things and just covertly control the media. Perhaps fascist energies are growing so strong that those tapped into them aren't worried about maintaining much of a mask anymore.

Please, spend a little time in exploring what is really going on in Poland before writing anything...

 

[Alada]

Seems to me that Poland is simply being more honest here than other European states. The BBC for example is entirely controlled by the British government, they just do it by more covert means.

Yeah, kind of odd that they don't just follow the Anglo-American empire's way of doing things and just covertly control the media. Perhaps fascist energies are growing so strong that those tapped into them aren't worried about maintaining much of a mask anymore.

Please, spend a little time in exploring what is really going on in Poland before writing anything...

Kasia, that kind of comment is not contributing anything to the discussion, in fact it comes across as rude. If you have an idea or data you’d like to share to better explain then please do so, and add your own thoughts and commentary as to why you think such and so. Otherwise it just comes across as snippy / noisy, which is not what we’re aiming for here.

 

[Yupo]

Perhaps fascist energies are growing so strong that those tapped into them aren't worried about maintaining much of a mask anymore.

I have to shake my head sometimes with disbelief about how quickly things seem to be progressing in this direction. Were it not for SoTT and the forum work, I wouldn't be aware or watching.

 

[Eboard10]

I don't have enough knowledge about the political landscape and the country in general to make an objective opinion about the PiS party at the moment, however, I am a bit hesitant to immediately denounce the new government following the statement made by the European Commissioner. At face value, the fact that the PiS passed a legislation giving it more control over the state media could be likened to what Putin did when he came to power in Russia in the lates 90s. While it was easy to blame him for abuse of power, we are aware of the situation in Russia during the 90s with the oligarchy and foreign interests controlling every facet of the media and the government and we also know the real motivations behind his (Putin's) actions.

So far, I read that the new Polish government passed a law ensuring a basic income to every family with more than one child and they are working on taxing corporations and commercial banks on the profits made in Poland that are often diverted outside the country to minimise taxation. There are even plans of nationalising banks which I guess can be good or bad depending on how it is managed. These measures are perceived as being unorthodox by the international financial community and I do expect a lot of criticism and demonisation towards any new legislation going forward, so it will be interesting to see how they manage it.

As I said, that's all I have read about the country's new government at this point and there might be lots of evidence to the contrary, so I will follow any development with interest. :)

 

[Kasia]

Seems to me that Poland is simply being more honest here than other European states. The BBC for example is entirely controlled by the British government, they just do it by more covert means.

Yeah, kind of odd that they don't just follow the Anglo-American empire's way of doing things and just covertly control the media. Perhaps fascist energies are growing so strong that those tapped into them aren't worried about maintaining much of a mask anymore.

Please, spend a little time in exploring what is really going on in Poland before writing anything...

Kasia, that kind of comment is not contributing anything to the discussion, in fact it comes across as rude. If you have an idea or data you’d like to share to better explain then please do so, and add your own thoughts and commentary as to why you think such and so. Otherwise it just comes across as snippy / noisy, which is not what we’re aiming for here.

I didn’t mean to be rude. I’m just fed up with the nonsense being spread around about Poland. I’m not for PIS – the governing party. I don’t like their foreign policy – too much for the USA, too little for Russia (however I hope they will change their mind some day), but as for internal policy I’m strongly with them as they are trying to tidy up the mess left by the previous PO-PSL coalition.

You didn’t have occasion to hear much about PO-PSL coalition as they had the whole public media in grip, so they didn’t inform about their swindles (they actually criticized the opposition, mainly PIS, to divert attention from their dirty games) + their had on their side
private media owned by the Germans and by the leftist circles (for instance “Wyborcza”- the enemy number one of the contemporary PIS government and the president Duda and at the same time eulogists of George Soros, banks, corporations and extremely leftist “values”). By the way this paper is cited by almost every EU and the USA mainstream media what it comes as no surprise cause it guards interest of foreign financial and political influences and so called “white people of Poland (“elite”), not common Poles.

The PIS government has already been falsely compared to Bolshevist (!), to NSDAP (!), to ISIS (!) [ISIS next to PISis is just a piece of cake according to some "experts"], Shulz – the president of the European Parliament and Viviane Reding, the vice-president of European Commission (the same who said that Britons are 'too ignorant' for EU referendum) have just compared Polish government to Putin’s government (actually I should be satisfied with this statement except that for the common ill-informed EU or and the USA man it means nothing good) and now on Cs forum I’m reading that “perhaps fascist energies [in Poland] are growing so strong that those tapped into them aren't worried about maintaining much of a mask anymore”….

As I’ve written before, the recent demonstrations have been organized by foreign forces and the so called Poles (bought or manipulated). They can speak what they want and meet when and where they want so at least this fact shows that Polish democracy is in good condition (during the rules of PO-PLS coalition demonstrators (for instance miners) were dispersed by water, tear gas, rubber bullets and beaten by the police or police provocateurs).

My request is simple – please don’t be too quick in your positions and conclusions on Poland. Try to read not only mainstream, to a large extent, distorted media coverage. Be open minded and critical.