The media landscape is very pluralistic but highly polarized along political and ideological divides.[1]
The media landscape
According to the 2023 report by Warsaw-based media monitoring firm Instytut Monitorowania Mediów (IMM), the most quoted media outlet was RMF FM radio followed by Wirtualna Polska news portal, Rzeczpospolita daily, TVN24 news station and Radio Zet.[2]
The government is working to increase broadband internet service. The major print, radio and television outlets have online editions. Online-only portals publishing a mix of news and entertainment content are among the country's most-visited websites .[1]
The reach of television is widespread. In 2016, the Poles on average watched television for over 4 hours and 20 minutes a day.[1] The public television broadcaster is Telewizja Polska (TVP), which runs two main channels, one regional channel and several thematic channels. The TVP is an importante source of information for many Poles, in particular in small cities, though its popularity has been declining in recent years.[1] In the private sector there are over 200 commercial TV broadcasters: the two leading one are Polsat and TVN.[1]
Radio is a popular medium in Poland. In addition to the public radio broadcaster, Polskie Radio (PR), there are over 200 licensed private radio outlets.[1]
The main features of the media system of modern Poland are the product of the country's socio-political and economic post-communist transition. These features include: the privatisation of the press sector; the transformation of the state radio and television into public broadcasting services; influx of foreign capital into the media market and European integration of audiovisual media policies.[6]
Since the 1990s, Poland has developed a pluralistic but highly polarized media environment.[1] The media landscape comprises, in addition to the public radio and television broadcasters, a variety of private media outlets, encompassing a broad political spectrum, from socially liberal to ultraconservative.[1] In the sector of print media, the newspaper with the largest circulation is Gazeta Wyborcza, founded in 1989. Its founding father was Adam Michnik- a Communist-era dissident. The daily had a critical stance towards the Law and Justice Party (PiS) government. The second largest paper is Rzeczpospolita, which has conservative traditions.[1]
The two main business-oriented dailies are Dziennik Gazeta Prawna and Puls Biznesu: they both have a narrow, professional readership and are typically not engaged in the country’ political conflict. The two leading tabloids are Fakt, owned by the Swiss-German media conglomerate Axel Springer, and Super Express, owned by ZPR Media. These tabloids have a remarkable impact on public opinion.[1]
In addition to national publications, there are several regional dailies: in this sector, the top competitors have sales comprised between 20,000 and 40,000 daily copies sold.[1]
In the recent years, sales of both national and regional dailies have been declining.[1]
Political polarization also characterizes the weekly newsmagazine market. On the liberal side there is Newsweek Polska (the Polish edition of the Newsweek), followed by Polityka. On the right side, there are newer titlesSieci, Do Rzeczy and the older Gazeta Polska. The right-wing weeklies do not form an uniform bloc.[1]
Legal framework
The Polish constitution of 1997 guarantees freedom of the press and prohibits both preventive censorship and licensing requirements for the press. The media sector is regulated by the 1984 Polish Press Law and the 1992 Broadcasting Act, which have both been amended since then. The Broadcasting Act defines the rules for appointing the members of the National Broadcasting Council (Krajowa Rada Radiofonii i Telewizji, KRRRiT) and its powers. According to the Constitution, the KRRiT's role is to "safeguard the freedom of speech, the right to information, and the public interest in radio and television broadcasting".[1]
Even is its members are not allowed to belong to political party or perform public activities, the KRRiT in practice has been politicized, with members somehow affiliated with political parties. Also the governments’ reform attempts of the KRRiT have been largely politically driven. These attempts have been strengthened by the right-wing Law and Justice Party (PiS) government which, after winning the parliamentary elections in October 2015, partly replaced the management at the public television and radio broadcasters.[1]
The Polish media environment is highly polarized. Since 2015 elections, this polarization has become ever stronger. The cleavage concerns both PiS's controversial decisions and policies and diverging attitudes towards issues such as equal rights for LGBT people, refugees, the EU.[1]
Poland lacks the tradition of an editorially independent public service media: public and radio television broadcasters tend to favor those in power.[1]
Partisanship in the Polish media system goes hand in hand with bias among the journalists themselves. This bias is mirrored in the two major journalists's organizations that have different orientations: the Association of Polish Journalists (SDP), sympathetic toward the PiS government, and the Association of Journalists (TD), which is against the PiS's government.[1] On 7 December 2020 state-owned petroleum refinery and distributor PKN Orlen acquired media and press company "Polska Press" controlling large number of regional media portals and several regional newspapers.[7][8][9][10] Together with previous acquisition of Polish newspaper distributor RUCH it creates a situation where regional media are owned and distributed by state-owned company raising concerns of media neutrality in Poland.[11] On April 8, 2021, a Polish court has suspended the purchase of Polska Press by PKN Orlen.[12]
Foreign companies hold a dominant position in the Polish media market. This fact entered into the political debate, in particular since the PiS government took office. To contrast this, Jarosław Kaczyński, founder of the PiS and former Prime Minister, called for the media to be "repolonized" [1][13] PiS politicians argued that foreign-owned media outlets pursue deliberately unfavorable coverage of the PiS's government with the aim of undermining it.[1]
Polish print media and radio outlets are mainly private and diversified in terms of ownership, however foreign owners control around three-quarters[14] of the Polish media market. The main domestic competitor is Agora, which owns Gazeta Wyborcza and a number of magazines, radio stations, internet platforms, a publishing house and additional ventures.[1]
Foreign ownership is very strong also in the regional media which are largely owned by the German Polska Press.[1]
To counter foreign ownership in Polish media, in 2021, the PiS government submitted a bill that would ban non-European-Union citizens and companies from possessing a controlling stake in Polish media outlets.[15] In August 11, 2021, The bill Lex TVN which forbids companies except those from the European Economic Area from holding more than a 49% stake in Polish radio and television stations passed the Sejm.
In recent years, according to Reporters Without Borders, in particular since the PiS went to power in 2015, media freedom in Poland has been significantly deteriorating.
Several weeks after winning the 2015 parliamentary elections, the PiS passed a media law which gave the government direct control over public broadcasting. It also replaced journalists working in the public radio and TV stations and attempted to throttle several independent print media outlets, such as Gazeta Wyborcza, Polityka and Newsweek Polska by restricting public advertising.[1][16] According to Freedom House, this effort is part of a broader attempt to weaken checks and balances, silence independent voices and control the public sphere.[17] PiS's control on the executive branch and the executive can undermine the independence of the judiciary and its aggressive attitude towards the Constitutional Tribunal has prompted accusations that it is undermining the rule of law in Poland.[1] In January 2016, the European Commission launched a procedure in order to impose the respect of the rule of law in the country.[18]
Reporters Without Borders in its 2019 assessment of Poland stated that the public media "have been transformed into government propaganda mouthpieces."[19] Poland is rated "Partly Free" in Freedom House's 2017 "Freedom of the Press" report.[17] It is ranked 62 out of 180 countries in the 2020 World Press Freedom index by Reporters Without Borders, down from 18th in 2015.[20]
After winning parliamentary elections in October 2015, the PiS party replaced the management positions at the public television and radio broadcasters. This effort was not limited to public broadcasters since the party leadership tried to control also private media outlets for instance by advancing a proposal to restrict reporters’ access to the parliament.[1]
In December 2015 the so-called "small media law" prepared by PiS was sent to the Polish parliament. The proposal, which was conceived as a temporary measure before the adoption of a more comprehensive media law, provided for the termination of the mandates of the current members of the national television and radio broadcasters’ management and supervisory boards and their replacement through the direct appointment by the treasury minister. The law created great turmoil in public media: the directors of several public channels left their position in protest. Public protests occurred across Poland as well as abroad in the environment connected the community of Poles living abroad.[1]
In December 2016, the Constitutional Tribunal declared parts of the "small media law" unconstitutional, calling for the need to constitutional rules on the KRRiT which should have played a decisive role in appointing its management and supervisory boards.[1]
In the first months of 2016 the PiS's government worked on a "big media law", a more comprehensive reform of the media system. In April 2016, a draft Law on National Media was presented to the Parliament. The draft wanted to transform the public radio and television broadcasters into "national media", thus shifting away from the model of editorially independent public service. The bill obliged the public media to disseminate the views of the prime minister, the president, and the speakers of the parliament and stated that the public media should preserve national traditions, patriotic and Christian values and strengthen the national community. The Council of Europe criticized the draft, describing it a move towards a "State broadcasters".[21] The law was not adopted: the government decided to pursue a less ambitious approach and proposed the Parliament a "bridge law" to go into force at the expiration of the "small media law". The "bridge law" was approved in June 2016: the law stated that a newly established National Media Council have to be responsible for the appointment of the management and supervisory boards of the public media. The arrangement established by the law effectively guarantees the rule party a key role in appointing the members of the national Media Council.[1] The law also does not forbid the new council's members from belonging to political party.[1]
TVN24 GO (owned by TVN Group) - first online news platform in Poland giving access to TVN24 and TVN24 BiS. Platform included broadcast, 29 public programs on live broadcast channels, and TV programs and programs as well as films on demand.
Audytorium 17 - (public regional radio network) - FM, DAB+ and the Internet
Radio Poland - (external service in English, Polish, German, Ukrainian, Russian and Belarusian) - 1386 AM, FM (in selected areas abroad), DAB+ (in Poland), satellite and the Internet
Radio Plus - upbeat oldies from the '70s, '80s & '90s and Catholic broadcasting (target demographic 40 and older) (18 local stations, some in cooperation with Eurozet)
The Sopot International Song Festival or Sopot Festival is an annual international song contest held in Sopot, Poland. It is the biggest Polish music festival altogether with the National Festival of Polish Song in Opole, and one of the biggest song contests in Europe.
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Telewizja Polska S.A., also known in English as Polish Television, is a public service broadcaster in Poland, founded in 1952. It is the oldest and largest Polish television network.
Disco polo is a genre of popular dance music, created in Poland in the 1980s. It was initially known as sidewalk music or backyard music. This genre, a type of Polish urban folk music, had great popularity in the 1990s, peaking in 1995–1997, then gradually declining in popularity through the early 21st century. The genre then had a resurgence in the winter of 2007. The Polish PWN dictionary defines the genre as a Polish variant of disco music, with simple melodies and often ribald lyrics.
TVN24 is a Polish 24-hour commercial news channel, launched on 9 August 2001. Being a part of the TVN Network, TVN24 has been owned since 2018 by US-based media company Warner Bros. Discovery. It gained broader popularity after the September 11, 2001 attacks in the US, which was the first major incident to be covered by TVN24. It is available over all digital platforms in Poland as well as in most cable networks and some networks in other countries, including USA and Germany. The audio portion of the channel can be streamed on the internet.
TVP Info is a Polish free-to-air television news channel, run by the public state broadcaster TVP. It is focused on newscasts, mainly broadcasting nationwide news bulletins. Until 20 December 2023, its main offices were located in the Television Information Agency building at Warsaw Insurgents Square; since 29 December 2023 the channel's activities are carried out from the main TVP building on Woronicza Street, Warsaw.
Television in Poland was introduced on an experimental basis in 1937. It was state owned, and was interrupted by the Second World War in 1939. Television returned to Poland in 1952 and for several decades was controlled by the communist government. Colour television was introduced in Poland in 1971. Private television stations in Poland appeared around the time of the fall of communism, with PTV Echo becoming the first private station in Poland.
Andrzej Szczytko was a Polish actor and stage director. Szczytko is the recipient of multiple theatre awards and honours, including the 2016 Witkacy Prize - Critics' Circle Award. He was awarded the Decoration of Honor "Meritorious for Polish Culture" in 2012 for his contribution to Polish culture, and in 2017, the Silver Medal for Merit to Culture – Gloria Artis.
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TVN S.A. is a Polish media and entertainment group established in 1995 as TVN Sp. z o.o. The CEO of TVN Group is Katarzyna "Kasia" Kieli, president and managing director of TVN Warner Bros. Discovery. Its TV channel, TVN, is their flagship.
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