Complaints to the National Broadcasting Council about the “How They Lie” program. Will TVP get a fine?

By Beata Czuma, wirtualnemedia.pl | 6 July 2023

TVP Info has already aired three episodes of “How They Lie,” a program that targets TVN. It is supposed to straighten out TVN’s alleged “lies and misstatements, manipulations.” As Wirtualnemedia.pl has learned, the National Broadcasting Council has received the first complaints that the program was promoted on TVP’s “News.” Public TV has already received penalties for this in the past.

The “How They Lie” program debuted on TVP Info on Monday night. It will be aired Monday through Friday from 7:16 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. “Here we will straighten out the lies and understatements, the manipulations of TVN and what they want to hide from their viewers in this station. Welcome to the Polish media,” said Adrian Klarenbach at the beginning of the first edition. The second edition was hosted by Monika Borkowska.

The graphics promoting “How They Lie” resemble the logo of TVN’s “Facts”: both have a similar background, and the word “lie” is written in a similar font to “Facts.” “The goals of the program are explicitly stated by the presenter. It is the viewer’s right to know, including about the lies, manipulations, treatments and silences used by TVN. It turned out that one program “Facts and lies” is not enough,” Samuel Pereira, head of TVP info, told us.

Complaints about the announcement of the program “How They Lie”

We asked the National Broadcasting Council whether it had received complaints about the program. – The National Broadcasting Council has received two complaints about the announcement of the “How They Lie” program on “News.” The charge: self-promotion in a news program [as of July 5, 2023 – ed.]- replied Teresa Brykczynska, spokeswoman for the KRRiT. She did not answer our question as to whether the Council intends to initiate proceedings in the case.

According to Article 16a of the Broadcasting Act, news services cannot be interrupted to broadcast commercials. TVP has had problems for this reason in the past. Last September, the KRRiT fined TVP for promoting “New Year’s Eve Dreams” in “News.” The public broadcaster had to pay a 35 thousand zloty fine.

The December 29 edition of “News” last year devoted as much as 18 minutes to the upcoming Zakopane event. The host of the special edition of “News” from Zakopane began the program with information that the biggest star of the TVP event will be Jason Derulo. Later aired material about the black performer, live reporters about the event, material about the performances of Maryla Rodowicz, Zenk Martyniuk, Slawomir, Julio Iglesias Junior and Piotr Kupicha. Another material dealt with the atmosphere at New Year’s Eve parties in previous years. In “Guest of the News,” Michal Adamczyk interviewed Zenon Martyniuk and Rafal Brzozowski.

TVP received a fine for “New Year’s Eve of Dreams”

“An analysis of the program content presented in the indicated broadcasts revealed a violation of the provisions of the Broadcasting Act of December 29, 1992 (Journal of Laws 2020, item 805, 2021, item 1676), in terms of: – Article 16c(1) of the Act, by broadcasting a disguised commercial message within the meaning of Article 4(20) of the Act, in which the broadcaster’s advertising intent was to promote the New Year’s Eve party and its broadcast in the program “Sylwester Marzeń z Dwójką,” scheduled to be broadcast on TVP 2, on December 31, 2021; – Article 16a para. 6(1) of the Act, by interrupting the news services to broadcast advertising; – Article 16a(7) of the Act, by interrupting the broadcast to broadcast advertising in the public broadcaster’s program; – Article 17a(1)(1), by placing in the news services the PGE Polska Grupa Energetyczna SA graphic mark and the bar “The broadcast contains product placement.” In connection with the above, proceedings were initiated to punish the Company Telewizja Polska SA with a fine under Article 53(1) of the Act,” the then head of the KRRiT informed.

“News” has been fined before for self-promotion

In June 2021, we reported that the National Broadcasting Council fined TVP PLN 30,000 for material about the Italian series and program announcements in “News” on May 4, 2020. On that day, the program praised TVP’s program proposals, including the series “Italian Family,” the next episodes of the TV series “Forester’s Lodge” and the program “How to Melody?”.

How did the KRRiT explain the penalty? “The penalty was imposed for violating Article 16c(1) of the Broadcasting Act and Article 16a(6)(1) of the Broadcasting Act by broadcasting in the news service hidden commercial messages relating to other broadcasts by the broadcaster (i.e., self-promotional messages), as well as interrupting – in order to broadcast these messages – the news service,” a KRRiT spokesperson said at the time.

TVP laconically addressed the issue at the time. “In order to meet viewers’ expectations, Telewizja Polska informs about important on-air events in various forms. This was also the station’s intention. The interpretation of the relevant regulations leaves doubts, but TVP nevertheless accepts for application the position expressed in the said decision of the KRRiT,” the TVP spokesman’s team explained to us.