Zbigniew Ziobro sues TVN to the National Broadcasting Council. Reporters Without Borders responds to the minister’s allegations

At the beginning of August, the Minister of Justice, the Prosecutor General Zbigniew Ziobro accused TVN of informing about suspending the prison sentence for 24-year-old Marikaand at the same time she did not provide information about a completely different case, concerning the discontinuation by the court of the case of assault and beating of an activist of an anti-abortion organization.

The minister argued that TVN’s way of reporting court rulings concerning “events dictated by ideological considerations” indicates that the station violates the principles of impartial coverage of events. He lodged a complaint in this matter with the National Broadcasting Council.

The organization Reporters Without Borders (RSF) commented on Ziobro’s actions in a social media post. government politicians PIS cannot impose content on the media to pursue their political agenda.

The head of the Ministry of Justice responded to the criticism of the organization. “Hypocrisy without borders! It’s sad to see how quickly the masks fall off those who call themselves defenders of democracy and free speech. The organization Reporters without Borders attacked me, claiming that my defense of the attacked and beaten man and the pointing out of the TVN station for the lack of journalistic objectivity, it is conscious concealment of the scandal is ‘implementation of the political agenda’,” Ziobro wrote in a statement.

“Well, dear ‘reporters without borders’, as you call yourself, the Prosecutor General in Poland will always stand on the side of the victims. Just like in the case of the attacked pro-life truck driver,” the minister added.

Reporters Without Borders issued a statement on Ziobro’s words. “RSF’s criticism does not apply to media content, and is based on Polish law, which clearly states that the broadcaster independently shapes its program” – we read in the statement.

“We regret that Minister Zbigniew Ziobro does not understand our concerns and unjustifiably accuses us of not telling the truth. Calling for TVN and TVN24 to be punished for what they did not broadcast is clearly a politically motivated and legally unjustified attack on their editorial decisions” – they added.

Reporters Without Borders “in adherence to the democratic principle of media independence” called KRRiT to reject the complaint.

Reporters Without Borders (French. Reporters Sans Frontières, Spanish. Reporteros Sin Fronteras) is an international non-governmental organization gathering, among others, journalists, which monitors press freedom around the world. RSF draws attention to cases of violation of freedom of expression, it also campaigns in defense of journalists, writers and defenders human rights.