Application for TVN License Renewal Submitted to National Broadcasting Council. Chairman Maciej Świrski Appealed to Boycott the Station in 2018
December 5, 2022 | Wirtualnemedia.pl
Maciej Świrski, chairman of the National Broadcasting Council, has long been giving examples that he does not like TVN, and in 2018 he even called on Twitter for a boycott of it. He never backed down from those words. Journalists and media experts commenting on his words emphasize in an interview with us that his statement calling for a boycott is “unprofessional and incompetent,” and Świrski himself directly called for the suppression of press criticism. Now it will decide on the station’s license -as the appropriate application has just been sent to the National Broadcasting Council.
Świrski has been the chairman of the National Broadcasting Council since October this year. ; The new council itself has been operating since September. Before he became the chairman of the regulator, Maciej Świrski became famous for the fact that for three years (2006-2009), he was on the management board and then on the supervisory board of the Polish Press Agency, but mainly because in 2012 he founded (and was actively involved in) Reduta Dobry.
He is also known for his repeated critical opinions about TVN, from which he has never backed down. Meanwhile, the National Council will soon decide to extend the satellite license for the lifestyle channel HGTV Polska, whose broadcaster is TVN. His license expires in June of next year.
Until April 14, 2024, the current terrestrial license of the main TVN channel is in force. The current composition of the National Broadcasting Council will also decide on its extension. As the Wirtualnemedia.pl portal found out, the application for extending the TVN license for 10 years has just been sent to the National Broadcasting Council.
The TVN license is valid until mid-April 2024. TVN paid PLN 12.9 million for the current 10-year license.
Świrski vs. TVN
The current chairman of the National Council did not mince words when talking about TVN. “I have the impression that the “crooked face” should be the new logo of TVN, he said in January 2021 on TVP Info. At that time, he commented on the information from wPolityce.pl that TVN managers were among those vaccinated against the coronavirus out of order.
Also in 2021, he boasted on social media about his response to the invitation to the “Tak jest” program on TVN24: “Today we received an invitation from TVN on behalf of Andrzej Morozowski to participate in the TVN24 program “Tak jest.” I replied to them that we would not go expressing my opinion of this medium. I believe that the appearances on TVN make their manipulations credible, “- wrote the current chairman of the National Broadcasting Council.
However, he expressed himself most clearly about TVN in 2018, calling on leading PiS politicians to boycott this station. “There is no point in complaining and whining about TVN, just boycott it. Let PiS politicians not go there, let the president and prime minister not answer TVN’s questions, and let TVN not be invited… And this is not obstructing the work of journalists but choosing the truth. Down with #FakeNewsMedia,” Świrski wrote on Twitter at the time.
“Partisan, incompetent statement”
Maciej Świrski has never withdrawn from these declarations, which clearly put him in opposition to the station, about which he (probably many times) will have to decide. Meanwhile, the lawyers we spoke to reminded us that the chairman is bound by impartiality because – under Art. 6 sec. 1 of the Broadcasting Act – the National Council “guards the freedom of speech on radio and television, the independence of broadcasters and the interests of recipients, and ensures the open and pluralistic nature of radio and television.”
Media expert from the Jagiellonian University, prof. Jacek Dąbała comments on the call for a boycott of TVN: – This is an unprofessional and incompetent statement because it is biased. Only a politician or a media dilettante can say that. Plus, it sounds emotional and immature.
– Mr. Świrski once again proves that he is not suitable to be a state official, including the head of the National Broadcasting Council. He has as much to do with impartiality as Zbigniew Ziobro with the rule of law. Mr. Świrski’s words can be considered suppressing press criticism, for which there are appropriate paragraphs. But PiS did not send him to the National Broadcasting Council to be an impartial arbitrator. He is already taking an active part in the operation “Winning the elections at all costs,” – says the deputy editor of “Gazeta Wyborcza,” Roman Imielski.
Klaudiusz Slezak, a political reporter associated with Radio Nowy Świat, notes in turn: – For many years, it was a standard that when someone assumed a position, he tried not to show his political views. This has changed for several years – the best example of which to judge is Krystyna Pawłowicz and her internet entries. Maciej Świrski is part of the choir of those who cannot (or do not want to) leave their views aside.
The National Broadcasting Council is to operate in this form until 2028.
Maciej Świrski, like his deputy in the National Broadcasting Council, Agnieszka Glapiak, was appointed to the Council by the Sejm as a candidate of the Law and Justice parliamentary club. The new National Broadcasting Council also includes prof. Tadeusz Kowalski from the University of Warsaw (elected by the opposition Senate), dr hab. Hanna Karp from the Academy of Social and Media Culture in Toruń (a university associated with father Tadeusz Rydzyk) and Marzena Paczuska, once the head of “Wiadomości” TVP1. The last two members of the National Broadcasting Council were named by President Andrzej Duda.
Just after his election, Jan Dworak, who headed the National Broadcasting Council from 2010-2016, said in an interview with Wirtualnemedia.pl : – Świrski is rather known for his propaganda skills. He did not prove himself as a media man, and certainly not as a man who knows and values the independence of the media, their development and structure, the media market, the advertising market, the tasks of public media, and the problems of commercial media. Not to mention the global market, the entire international sphere, and the new attitude of the European Commission, which strongly emphasizes the independence of the media.
– Now it will be much worse – said a former member of the National Media Council, Juliusz Braun. – Mr. Świrski, who is aggressively politically engaged on the side of PiS, has made such statements many times. In the Good Name Redoubt, the National Foundation to take care of Poland’s good name, millions were spent to discredit Poland. I believe that this decision shows that Law and Justice decided to go to war with the media.
The National Broadcasting Council, in its current form, is to end its term of office only in 2028. If the opposition wins the election, changes will be possible sooner. In the past, PiS changed the composition of the Council through statutes. The opposition may opt for similar solutions.