Senate Marshal Tomasz Grodzki commented on the statement of US senators on lex anti-TVN. – I am very concerned that this is a group of senators who are usually very friendly to Poland – he said. He added that “if we destroy media freedom, as Belarus does, it will end badly.”
Lex anti-TVN has become a common topic statements by US Democratic and Republican Senators. In their opinion, the amendment to the media law proposed by PiS would “violate the freedom and independence of the media and jeopardize American investment in the media in Poland.”
On Thursday, the deputy speaker of the Sejm and the chairman of the PiS club, Ryszard Terlecki, when asked about the statement of American senators, said that the Americans “they read various nonsense”and therefore “they don’t know what’s going on” in Poland.
Americans “read nonsense”. Terlecki on the list of senators on lex anti-TVNTVN24
Grodzki: it’s about the foundations of democracy
The Marshal of the Senate, Tomasz Grodzki, referred to the statement of American senators. – I am very concerned about the fact that this is a group of senators who are usually very friendly to Poland and are very restrained, though perhaps not all of them, in criticizing our country – he said.
– On the other hand, both the State Department envoys who came to the government and parliament, as well as the media and correspondents from the United States, say unequivocally that this is an extremely serious topic. It’s not about one station or another. It is about the foundations of democracy, and one of such pillars of democracy is free media, said the Speaker of the Senate.
Senate Marshal on the list of US senators on lex anti-TVNTVN24
As he added, “if we destroy media freedom, as Belarus does, it will end badly.”
Lex anti-TVN
On July 7, a group of Law and Justice deputies submitted to the Sejm a draft amendment to the Broadcasting Act. “The will of the legislator is that companies based in Poland cannot be controlled by entities outside the European Economic Area” – it was written in the justification. Commentators agree that the changes are aimed at TVN’s independence. TVN24 is still waiting for the National Broadcasting Council to extend its license, which expires on September 26. An application for its extension was submitted in February 2020. KRRiT claims that the problem lies in the “ownership situation” of the TVN group.
READ ALSO: The license for TVN24 and the anti-TVN act. The CEO of Discovery Networks International comments >>>
The station’s management wrote in a statement that in 2015 the National Broadcasting Council accepted the entry of American capital into TVN. Since 2016 – under the same ownership conditions – KRRiT has already issued licenses for TVN24 BiS, TTV and TVN International West. On the license for TVN24 took place On July 22, two votes at the National Broadcasting Council. However, no decisions were made.
The Parliamentary Culture and Media Committee adopted while on July 27, a draft amendment to the media law with amendments and sent it for further work.
TVN is owned by Discovery through its subsidiary Polish Television Holding BV in the Netherlands, and thus belonging to the European Economic Area.
Main photo source: tvn24