Michał Broniatowski, the director of Poland’s new Foreign Language Media Centre created by public broadcaster TVP, has admitted it was designed to promote the government’s views.
He said the centre came about on the initiative of the foreign affairs ministry that wanted TV channels managed by the centre to represent the standpoint of the Polish administration.
TVP, along with public radio and the press agency (PAP), were taken over by the centre-left government led by Prime Minister Donald Tusk and put into a “state of liquidation” in December 2023.
That move was allegedly designed rapidly to change management and bypass public media laws. Since then, though, there has been no effort to wind up public media and instead new staff have been taken on and State subsidies awarded.
In an interview for PAP on March 1, Broniatowski, who had just been appointed head of the TVP media centre, said the decision to set up the facility that will now manage both Polish foreign language channels – TVP World and TV Belsat – was driven by the ministry of foreign affairs, which funds the channels.
“The creation of the centre is the result of expectations from the foreign affairs ministry which is our main sponsor,” he said, adding that the ministry felt it was in Poland’s strategic interest for there to be Russian and Ukrainian-language broadcasting in operation in addition to Belarussian on Belsat.
When in opposition, Tusk’s Civic Coalition (KO) had slammed TVP for what it claimed was it being a mouthpiece of the previous Conservative PiS government. It promised that, on coming into office, it would make public media independent.
The European Commission had also criticised the PiS government for what it said was undue influence over public media.
Yet since the Tusk government has been in office, all EC admonishments of Poland over media freedom in the country have ceased.
Broniatowski has worked in the past for Reuters and Politico Europe and, during the previous PiS government’s tenure, published a guide for the then-opposition on how it might organise a revolt against the administration.
He had earlier claimed the ministry was not involved in forming the new media centre and did not interfere in programme contents.
Staff at TVP World, though, then told Brussels Signal that both under the present government and its predecessor, pressure had been applied for those administrations’ lines to be followed.
“I recall how years ago, during PiS’ time, there had been arguments with our superiors that making the English-language service just a government mouthpiece would reduce its credibility and at least attempts were made to maintain distance,” said one staffer, who did not wish to be named.
“It’s sad that the present management has admitted that TVP World is just a ‘flag of convenience’ for putting out government propaganda.”
Broniatowski himself then admitted: “These language channels are there to represent the interests of the Polish State, conveying Poland’s view on global affairs,” adding that the centre was designed to ensure that “there is a consistent narrative flowing through the work of these channels”.
The close association with broadcasters and government was borne out by some of the appointments recently made. The English-language channel TVP World is now managed by Adam Jasser, a former minister in the previous Tusk government (2007-2015).
The current management of TVP, on being appointed, took down from the TVP World portal all material produced during the lifetime of the last PiS government. That was on claims that the “veracity of its journalistic content” was suspect, although no examples were given to back up the assertions.
According to Broniatowski, the aim of the newly created Russian programmes on the TV Belsat channel was “the promotion of Russian democrats” who did not have “imperialist views and believe Crimea is Russia and that people should feel sorry for ‘our boys’ losing their lives in Ukraine”. He failed to identify who these “democrats” were.
He also revealed the Ukrainian programme bloc would function under the name Slava TV, alluding to the Ukrainian nationalist slogan “Slava Ukrainii” [glory to Ukraine].
Broniatowski argued that its function would be different to that of its Russian and Belarusian counterparts “as there is freedom of speech in Ukraine”. It would, he said, focus on Poland’s view of Ukraine and explain “the implications of Ukraine’s choice to be in the EU”.
A day after Broniatowski’s interview with PAP, Tusk’s staff in London refused Poland’s second-most popular news channel, independent Conservative TV Republika, entry to his Ukraine summit press conference.
That came after a smaller Conservative news channel, wPolsce24, was also recently excluded from the PM’s press conferences.
