EU Bashes Poland on Media Freedom as Bill Targets Broadcaster

(Bloomberg) -- The European Union criticized Poland for a draft law that would force U.S.-based Discovery Inc. to give up control of the country’s largest private broadcaster and could tighten the government’s grip on the media.

Last week, lawmakers from Poland’s ruling Law & Justice party filed a bill stating that television and radio license holders can’t be directly or indirectly controlled by entities not in the European Economic Area. This drew rebukes from the U.S. as well as Discovery’s local unit, TVN, which said the move aims to silence independent journalism.

The legislation comes after months of foot-dragging by the regulator over extending the broadcasting license for TVN’s news channel TVN24, which has reported on alleged corruption in the nationalist government. Since Law & Justice came to power, Poland has been repeatedly sued by the EU’s executive for failing to respect the bloc’s democratic values.

“The new draft Polish law on broadcasting concessions is yet another worrying signal for media freedom and pluralism in the country,” Vera Jourova, European Commission vice president in charge of values, said on Monday. “We follow closely the situation related to TVN24 whose license has not been renewed yet.”

The legislation has shifted public debate away from the issues of nepotism in the ruling party and the return of Donald Tusk, Poland’s highest-ranking EU official ever, to local politics to take on Law & Justice. This has led some opposition politicians to speculate that the draft law will be ultimately dropped or watered down, especially if it risks eroding U.S. support for NATO-ally Poland.

Some Influence

Despite risks to relations with Washington, the ruling camp hasn’t yet scaled down its rhetoric. Lawmaker Marek Suski -- one of the sponsors of the legislation -- made clear the government seeks to influence the content at TVN.

“If this law is successfully passed and some of these shares may also be bought by Polish businessmen, we will have some influence on what is happening on this television,” he told pro-government newspaper Gazeta Polska.

State-run companies, including oil refiner and retailer PKN Orlen SA, have been buying up local newspapers and media outlets and firing journalists critical of the government. Poland has dropped in global press freedom indexes, with advocacy group Reporters Without Borders ranking the country alongside Armenia, Bhutan and Cote d’Ivoire in its latest report.

Asked by daily Rzeczpospolita if state-controlled companies could buy TVN, Suski said: “I can’t rule this out or confirm it. I am not running these companies.”

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