Subscription cancellation and TVP Info. Sejm on a civic bill

On Wednesday evening, the first reading of the civic bill on repealing the act on license fees and amending certain other acts is held in the Sejm. Over 100,000 signatures were collected under it.

The main assumptions of the project are the abolition of the subscription fee and the liquidation of the information and current affairs program TVP Info created and distributed by the government television.

The first reading takes place at a time when public opinion is concerned about the death of the son of MP Magdalena Filiks. The boy was 15 years old, he committed suicide. It is impossible to unequivocally judge the reasons for taking one’s own life, the investigation is being conducted by the Szczecin prosecutor’s office. According to the head of the state commission on pedophiles, Błażej Kmieciak, at the turn of the year, the government media led to the identification of the MP’s son as a victim of a pedophile convicted in a trial that was held in secret for the sake of the well-being of the harmed children.

READ MORE: A timeline of systemic evil. From the publication of government media to the death of a child

The government media revealed information about the pedophile’s victim. TVP is trying to throw responsibility on the PO MP

The Committee of the Legislative Initiative “Liquidation of subscription and TVP Info” was appointed to represent its plenipotentiary, the Mayor of Warsaw and Vice-President of the Civic Platform Rafal Trzaskowski. At the beginning of the debate, he presented the assumptions of the project.

– We meet at a very special moment. In recent days, we have felt the evil so tangibly, the symbol of which in recent years has become television, which we used to call public – he said. – Today, TVP is a hotbed not only of poor craftsmanship, servility, propaganda, manipulation, but above all, a place where cynicism and lack of any moral brakes prevail – he added.

According to Trzaskowski, “every day the boundaries of misinformation, ridicule of authorities, homage to the lowest possible instincts, deepening social divisions and inciting everyone who is not on the way with today’s power are crossed every day.”

– The effects of this party gangrene, which is spreading over the media, which we used to call public, unfortunately lead to tragedy – he added.

“Your words have consequences, they have tragic consequences,” he told government television workers.

On behalf of the club PIS spoke Mark Suski.

– I believe that this is actually a project that is supposed to be populism combined with the start of the election campaign – he said. “What you are saying right now is an attack on freedom of speech and citizens’ right to information,” he told the opposition.

– I am submitting a motion to reject this bill in the first reading. I encourage you to support this proposal, there is no reason to support such scribbles – he added.

Rafał Grupiński, who spoke on behalf of the KO club, said that the project gained “dramatic, terrible timeliness”.

– In fact, it is a symptom of a deep disease that affects the very center of our country, a purulent ulcer, the final mechanism of decay, this mechanism was set in motion at Nowogrodzka Street (the PiS headquarters is located there – ed.) – he said.

The representative of the Left club, Marek Rutka, stated that “it is impossible to talk about the submitted civic project without referring to the tragedy that happened in Szczecin.”

– It is true that the initiator of the spiral of tragic events is an employee of Radio Szczecin, but unfortunately, TVP Info also distributed information that should never reach the public through the media – he said.

– It’s not that we blame you for every suicide death, (…) but it must be said clearly – the death of a young man, like the death of President Paweł Adamowicz, did not fall from the sky, in both cases there are specific people behind them with names, surnames and employers – stated Rutka.

Krystian Kamiński from the Konfederacja circle said that “TVP Info is PiS’s propaganda tube, nothing else, it is typically party television.” “Let’s abolish this whole ridiculous cabaret and its funding in one fell swoop, for the sake of all of us,” he added.

Hanna Gill-Piątek, an unaffiliated MP, spoke about “the hate that pours out of TV sets all over Poland”. – You are able to lie everything, mix up perpetrators and victims, without any responsibility for words – she added.

During the parliamentary debate, the KO MP Piotr Adamowicz, brother of the murdered in 2019 of the mayor of Gdańsk, Paweł Adamowicz, also spoke. – Two days after the murder of my brother, Czech public radio asked me if this death would change anything when it comes to the public debate in Poland. I replied that no, because the so-called public media are one of the foundations of the PiS state. In addition, the justification came soon – when broadcasting the funeral, the viewers were given the “baboon flock has grown by new members”. Recounting the touching cry of the Dominican Father Ludwik Wiśniewski for an end to hatred and contempt, Donald Tusk he continued. – Many of us were shocked by the tragic death of Michał from Szczecin (the MP’s son was named Mikołaj – ed.), by the actions of Radio Szczecin and TVP Info. The best defense is attack. The initial vague explanations were replaced by the government and party media with manipulations and a frontal attack aimed at shifting the responsibility onto others.

As we read in the justification for the project, “Public Television should fulfill its public mission by providing the public with information characterized by pluralism, impartiality, balance and independence as well as high quality and integrity of the message”.

“The activities of Public Television, as well as public radio, violate applicable law and take the form of only a source of propaganda for the ruling party,” we read.

“A significant part of society shares the view that public media are an instrument in the political struggle, used to create reality for the needs of the ruling party. Public media operate in the form of companies whose activities are financed from multi-billion subsidies from the state budget and revenues from trading rights to broadcasts and Maintaining the obligation for citizens to pay subscription fees in order to finance the activities of partisan, biased and distorting the reality of public media is unjustified.

“The TVP Info program is a source of the propaganda message of the ruling party, preventing citizens from freely forming their views and forming public opinion. Since autumn 2015, TVP Info has changed its mission from information television to propaganda television, serving to consolidate the power of the so-called United Right. all journalists who did not accept political influence on their work, and in their place were employed those who, instead of journalistic workshop, distinguished themselves by their dedication to Law and Justice, “the statement said.

According to the applicants, “the entry into force of the draft act will be conducive to the free formation of citizens’ views and the formation of public opinion, which will have positive social effects.” It was added that “the positive social effects also include the fact of limiting the expenses incurred by citizens, resulting from the obligation to pay the subscription fee”.