Poland to propose limits to foreign media soon, says Kaczynski

WARSAW (Reuters) – Poland will seek to craft rules that limit the concentration of foreign-owned media outlets long before ruling nationalists end their terms in office, Poland’s de facto leader said Sunday, with parliamentary elections scheduled for 2023.

Poland’s ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party has long said that the foreign media has meddled in Polish affairs and that the Polish media should have a stronger place. The accusation was restated in the recent presidential campaign, during which PiS headline and ally Andrzej Duda repeatedly accused foreign or foreign-owned media of misinforming the public.

When asked if PiS would introduce reforms before the end of his term, party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski told Polish public radio on Sunday that he expects the reforms to take place soon.

“We will be able to do this much faster (than before the end of our mandate), at least at the legislative level, but the success of this process is linked to many changes that we have to achieve in our country, as well as to international relations. Kaczynski said.

PiS has argued that any new law should adhere to EU rules, which could hinder the party’s political goal of substantially reducing the influence of foreign-owned media, such as Discovery-owned broadcaster TVN.

But, in the wake of last week’s presidential vote, where Duda won a second term, PiS has been emboldened in his criticism of the influence of the foreign-owned media in Poland.

Kaczynski said the possible rules are still “being analyzed and there are discussions on the matter.”

Many options were being considered, a PiS official told Reuters earlier this week, adding that buying regional newspapers, many of which are German-owned, was one of the ideas that came up, the Polish daily Gazeta reported. Wyborcza last week.