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Polish private media can start urbanizationwrites Stanley Bill, who teaches Polish politics and culture at Cambridge University, as well as on one of the news portals notesfrompoland.com founders.
“Critics say the media could become PiS propaganda channels, as well as a public service broadcaster, especially with regard to local election campaigns,” Bill wrote on Twitter.
On Monday, Daniel Obajtek, head of the Orlen Oil Refinery, announced on Twitter the acquisition of Polska Press, the country’s largest regional and local newspaper distribution agency, which will provide access to $ 17.4 million. Readers, there was no shortage of colorful comparisons on the social network.
Political scientist Kamil Marcinkiewicz wrote about a “tragic day for press freedom in Poland” and political scientist Marcin Zaborowski said PiS was inspired by “the model of the Russian media market, in which Gazprom plays the role of a state investor.” .
Reuters / Photo by Scanpix / Orlen logo
Associate Professor at the Vytautas Magnus University dr. Andrzej Pukšto says that there is no unequivocal answer to the question of what dangers Orlen, whose 27.5 percent. the shares are controlled by the state, the decision to acquire Polska Press.
“In France and Germany, large state-owned companies also control part of the media market. On the other hand, there are concerns about freedom of expression in Poland, but I associate them more with the public broadcaster: television, radio.” 15 minutes said A.Pukštas.
A. Pukšto noted that the Polish government is currently trying to expand Orlen; it is planned to merge it with the energy concern Lotos.
The Reporters Without Borders (RSF) Reporters Group writes in its 2020 report that “guerrilla speeches and hate speech are still prevalent in the Polish state media, which have become mouthpieces for government propaganda.”
According to RSF, new state media directors do not tolerate opposition or neutrality from employees, those who refuse to obey are fired.
Critics worry that Orlen’s takeover of Polska Press could distort the advertising market. Media critical of the rulers have complained about uneven conditions in the past.
AFP / Scanpix photo / Polish newspapers
Bartosz Wielinski, deputy editor of the largest daily Gazeta Wyborcza, said that in 2015, as soon as the government changed, state authorities canceled the newspaper’s subscriptions and advertisements.
“They canceled everything and a few days later they subscribed to small media of less scope or quality, but they are managed by their people. These funds have received a large amount of money, with that amount of money that could buy advertising for The New York Times, Wielinski told Emerging Europe earlier this year.
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Has repolonization begun?
PiS spoke in the summer about plans to limit the concentration of foreign capital in the media. Critics of the ruling later speculated that no law would be passed prohibiting foreign companies from having media in Poland, as this would be contrary to EU law.
However, it was speculated that PiS would try to use state banks and other financial instruments to help “friendly forces take over these media.”
In October, Deputy Prime Minister Piotr Glinski announced that “if possible, state companies should have to buy media.” According to him, “it is not normal that all local media are in the hands of a German corporation.”
To date, three-quarters of the Polish media market has been controlled by German capital companies. Orlen also buys Polska Press from the German media group Verlagsgruppe Passau (VGP).
VPG owner Alexander Diekmann said the decision “will allow our press team to continue implementing the development plan launched a few years ago, especially in Bavaria.”
From now on, Orlen will control the paper and digital versions of 20 of the 24 regional newspapers and about 120 local weekly newspapers.
Photo by Sigismund Gedvila / 15min / Andžejus Pukštas
A. Pukštas says that the deep regional traditions of the media go back to the time of socialist Poland.
“Poland is much more decentralized (than Lithuania – ed.). The role of regional media is important here. Of course, those media are now being transformed and it is not the paper publications that are more important, but the portals in And the publications Orlen bought, like Gazeta Baltycka, are household names. 15 minutes declared A.Pukštas.
PiS supporters are happy with the Orlen purchase. Jan Mosinski, a member of parliament belonging to the party, said that after the acquisition of the media by a Polish company, readers in the region “will no longer be presented with a narrative, which was often inappropriate.”
Pis’s spokesman, Marcin Horala, wrote on Twitter that one of the biggest shortcomings is “the lack of local media or media that make a living from advertising in urban municipalities.” He says there is no criticism of local institutions, and now there is an opportunity to have strong regional media that are independent from local political forces.
“Orbanization” of the Hungarian media
Reporters Without Borders writes in its 2020 report that in Hungary, the pro-government Central European Press and Media Foundation (KESMA) “dominates the media landscape” and that state advertising in the media still distorts the market.
15 minutes I already wrote how the Hungarian rulers took control of the public service broadcaster.
The KESMA Foundation owns around 500 media outlets, it has been criticized by the European Center for Media and Press Freedom and the European Federation of Journalists for its ties to Prime Minister Viktor Orban. The media united by the foundation belong to the allies of V. Orban.
The Hungarian rulers have weakened private media in various ways.
„Reuters“ / „Scanpix“ nuotr./Viktoras Orbanas
For example, when the prime minister personally took over the appointment of the heads of the two most important media regulators, he fined the independent media. Eventually, some of these measures were bought with oligarchs close to Orban.
The government has also pressured businessmen not to buy advertising in critical media.
15 minutes he also wrote about how in 2018 a businessman close to the prime minister bought the last television channel critical of the rulers. It was sold by the owner, angry with V. Orban, when his businesses began to fail in public procurement.
RSF notes that access to information is increasingly difficult and difficult for independent journalists in Hungary. They are not allowed to freely interrogate the parliament of legislators, attend various events.
Government representatives do not speak to journalists critical of the ruling, and state institutions do not often respond to independent journalists’ questions.
Reporters Without Borders ranked Poland 62nd and Hungary 89th in the 2020 media freedom index. Lithuania ranked 28th.
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