There is a genuine assault on the media taking place. You don’t believe it? Get familiar with the facts.
Resolution with no legal force
On the evening of December 19, the parliamentary majority passed a media resolution - calling on „all state organs of the Republic of Poland” to „restore constitutional order” in TVP, Polish Radio and the Polish Press Agency”. One of the addressees of the resolution is the Ministry of Culture and Science. The resolution has no legal force, it is in fact a declaration, but it is the one that will be referred to by the organizers of the forceful takeover of the media.
Later that very evening, Law and Justice deputies headed to the headquarters of the public media and PAP, deciding to stay there around the clock to prevent the state from breaking the law.
Forceful intrusion into the media
At 10:44 a.m. on December 20, the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage published an announcement about the dismissal of the supervisory and management boards of TVP, Polskie Radio and PAP. No information was given as to who would sit on the new boards. This procedure was carried out in disregard of the National Broadcasting Act.
At 11:18 a.m., staff of TVP’s technical department illegally turned off the TVP INFO signal. The statement of editor Mark Formela on the attack on the media was interrupted, and commercials appeared.
A minute later, TVP INFO editor Adrian Borecki announced on the Agrounia program that the signal had been mysteriously switched off, and tried to inform viewers about the situation, but after 33 seconds the signal was also interrupted.
Police squads entered the building on Woronicza Street, headed by the usurping TVP authorities - neo-senior of the Supervisory Board Counselor Piotr Zemla, neo-president of TVP Tomasz Sygut, neo-director of TAI Grzegorz Sajór, neo-senior of „News” Pawel Pluska and the leader of the new information service Marek Czyż. Legitimate TVP chairman Mateusz Matyszkowicz was forcibly removed from his office. A bodyguard, who sided with the usurper, battered MP Joanna Borowiak while entering the office.
The analogous situation in Polish Radio ended up with Director Agnieszka Kaminska leaving her office and the PR building. A new team entered the radio station.
Also, a new team headed by neo-president Marek Blonski entered the PAP headquarters at 6/8 Bracka Street along with security forces and police. The PiS politicians present there managed to prevent the entry into the offices by demanding at the very entrance the legal grounds upon which the PAP would change its authorities.
The role of TVN24
The WirtualneMedia portal reports that TVN employees who move to the public media have been given a special non-compete exemption formula.
Moving from TVN to the forcefully seized media include Paweł Płuska, Juliusz Kaszyński, Joanna Dunikowska-Paź, Tomasz Marzec, while from Polsat: Wioleta Wramba, Piotr Jędrzejek, Małgorzata Nowicka-Aftowicz, Bartek Cebeńko, Milena Borkowska, Jarosław Kret.
The TVN24 station works together in the assault on the media - its broadcast vans appear every time there is to be an action by the police, security guards and usurper authorities, but they do not publicize footage of security brutality.
By shutting down TVP INFO’s signal, the company loses about 2 million zlotys each day on advertising alone. Viewers change channels, TVN24 station’s Average Minute Viewership rises from 320,000 to 660,000, and the one-sided mainstream broadcast reports events in the public media as „occupation of buildings by Law and Justice deputies.”
The directors of TAI (Television News Agency) who remain in Powstańców Square are: Michal Adamczyk, Samuel Pereira, Marcin Tulicki, but they have lost effective control over most of the building. Security or technical matters are being handled from the Woronicza Street building. TAI’s 150 employees have suddenly lost access to passageways in the building, the institution is paralyzed. The first demonstration to defend the public media is gathering at Woronicza Street.
For the first time since the beginning of TVP broadcasting, there is no „Teleexpress” and „Panorama”. At 7:30 p.m., instead of „News,” the screen is occupied by Marek Czyz who explains that instead of „propaganda soup” he will provide „pure water” and instead of a „picture” of the world - a „photograph” of the world will be shown.
The building on Powstańców Square was surrounded by a police cordon, two of the three entrances were closed, and security stopped letting some employees in. The night passed in anticipation of forceful entry into the next buildings.
MPs defending PAP headquarters
Starting on December 21, lawyers began appearing at the PAP building, introducing themselves as members of the new authorities. It is on that day that most of the legal records of discussions between Sienkiewicz’s lawyers and Law and Justice (PiS) politicians that prevented them from entering the premises without being given any legal basis come from. PAP President Wojciech Surmacz confirmed that he remained in office in defiance of the usurpers.
In the TAI building, arrangements were being made for a strategy against the Neo-Management. Director Adamczyk remained in the building around the clock, amid fears that he would not be allowed into the building. At 7:30 p.m., the news service of the newly appointed team at the taken-over TVP began. It received a rather critical reception especially with regard to the trivialization of the topic of the TVP takeover itself and the technical quality of the program. It was later revealed that the neoNews (7:30 pm) was produced in a private studio - so yet another private entity turned out to be a beneficiary of the occupation of public media.
That evening, for the second time, demonstrations in defence of public media showed up outside the TAI and PAP buildings.
TVP INFO continued to remain without a signal or program broadcast.
Breaking point at PAP
On the night of December 21-22, around 3 a.m., a group of lawyers arrived at the PAP building, intending to occupy the Agency’s offices. They were accompanied by 11 security guards, but it turned out that only five belonged to the Art Security company, while six were, according to later reports, secret service officers. Neo-president Marek Blonski and neo-Supervisory Board member Bartosz Przeciechowski forced their way into the building. They were accompanied by anonymous bodyguards. Before 6 a.m. the two men left the building.
That day Magdalena Rigamonti, during an interview in the studio of the onet.pl portal claimed that offers of work in neoTVP are made to journalists by politicians. This triggered an avalanche of comments about the politicization of the usurped team.
This was the third day of no signal of the TVP news program.
„Entry” group
On December 23, editor Marcin Dobski of salon24.pl revealed the existence of an „Entry Group” - joint communication and coordination of lawyers and officials appointed to the public media by the Tusk team. This group included among others Marek Blonski, Pawel Majcher, Juliusz Kaszynski, Sylwia Gregorczyk-Abram. There was also a leak of an excerpt from the conversation, in which the authors of the attack on the media refer to martial law:
(…) detained. Or at least neutralized. The PAP is, after all, a critical facility. I know it smells of martial law, but it’s better to have 50 cry out than to show the powerlessness of the authorities.
TVP President Mateusz Matyszkowicz stepped down from his position as President of TVP, implying that the acting president is Chairman of the Supervisory Board - Maciej Lopinski (under an earlier resolution of the Board No. 148/X/2023).
In the evening, a security team arrived at PAP headquarters in an attempt to gain entry. A group of Law and Justice deputies, having received no legal grounds, did not let them pass further.
A demonstration in support of the existing public media authorities once again took place outside the TVP/TAI headquarters.
It was the fourth day of no signal of the TVP news program.
Christmas Eve: neo-authorities took one step backward
On the morning of December 24, unidentified men appeared at the TVP INFO building. One of the entrances was closed, another was opened, parliamentarians were forbidden to enter with their assistants, and employees were no longer allowed in. A stronger representation of the Law and Justice party, headed by Jaroslaw Kaczynski, Mariusz Blaszczak and Marek Suski, arrived on the scene. Soon regular rules of entry to the building were restored.
Meanwhile, there was a scuffle at PAP headquarters when a PAP employee pushed MP Antoni Macierewicz and spilled coffee on him.
In the evening, the TAI headquarters held a Christmas Eve celebration for parliamentarians, journalists and employees guarding the building. The liberal media chose to cover the wafer and the midnight mass at Powstańców Square out of a whole series of events - including unlawful ones - at the TVP INFO building to describe in the headlines. A demonstration in defence of the public media also gathered that evening. The usurping management withdrew from the PAP and TVP INFO building a security firm that was suspected of being a front for security service officers.
This was the fifth day of no signal for the TVP INFO news program.
Violations detected
On December 25, the two conflicting buildings were relatively quiet, but that day Dobski discovered serious irregularities in the notarial deed for the General Meetings of TVP, PAP and PR. The deed was drafted on December 19, but referred to a resolution that had been voted on at 10:13 p.m. Due to the complexity of the procedures and the late hour (the law office and the office building are closed at this time), it is believed that the notarial deed was signed before the resolution was passed, and therefore the document itself was certified to be illegal. This falls under Article 271 of the Criminal Code on „attestation of an untruth.”
According to unofficial information, along with the removal of the TVP INFO portal, the contents, materials, reports, programs and texts accumulated over 8 years were also permanently deleted.
The demonstration outside TVP INFO counted about 200 people.
It was the sixth day of no signal of the TVP INFO news program.
National Media Council elects TVP president
The National Media Council met on December 26 and elected Michal Adamczyk as president of TVP. On that day, the new head of public television made an announcement on bringing order to the media:
The usurpers showed no reaction to these decisions.
PAP President Wojciech Surmacz sent a letter to 500 news agencies around the world describing the assault on the media in Poland.
The „News” team published an account of events on December 19, the day of the assault on the media:
There was a demonstration, in greater numbers than the day before.
TVP INFO has remained signal less for more than a week.
Publikacja dostępna na stronie: https://wpolityce.pl/facts-from-poland/676730-the-summary-of-the-attack-on-the-public-media
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