TVN’s Issues Statement Following Decision by National Broadcasting Council on Report on Smolensk Subcommittee
“The proceedings will concern, in particular, whether the broadcast entitled “Black and white: The power of a lie” broadcast on TVN24 and TVN contains content that violates Article 18(1) and (3) of the Broadcasting Act by promoting false information and contradictory activities with the Polish raison d’état and threatening public security,” the National Broadcasting Council issued a statement on Friday.
“The chairman of the National Broadcasting Council will also investigate to what extent the possible dissemination of untrue and unreliable information violates the terms of the license granted to TVN SA to broadcast the TVN program,” – we read further.
The author of the challenged material, Piotr Świerczek, reached the materials ordered by the Subcommittee for the Reinvestigation of the Aircraft Accident, which were not included in any of its reports, and which undermined the thesis about the Smolensk bombing pushed by the chairman of the commission, Antoni Macierewicz.
On Monday, TVN SA issued a statement.
The company concluded that the National Broadcasting Council, instead of defending freedom of expression, wants to punish the company for freedom of expression.
“Such a fine is aimed solely at limiting journalistic criticism related to the activities of the subcommittee. This is unacceptable in the light of the constitutional tasks of the press, which is obliged to control public institutions,” reads the statement.
TVN has announced that it will publish facts regardless of “the people they are inconvenient to”, because viewers have the right to know what the government does not want to disclose.