Sejm Committee Dealt With National Broadcasting Council Proceedings on Fining TVN for Siła KłAmstwa
Yesterday, the Sejm Culture and Media Committee wanted to hear an opinion from Maciej Świrski, Chairman of the National Broadcasting Council, about his proceedings on fining TVN for broadcasting Siła kłamstwa (Force of a lie) report. “You are acting to its (TVN – editor’s note) detriment by making the whole situation highly political,” the deputies heard from Hanna Karp, a member of the National Broadcasting Council, appointed to the Council by the President of the Republic of Poland.
The meeting was convened at the request of a group of deputies represented by Piotr Adamowicz of the Civic Coalition Club. The deputies wanted the Chairman of the National Broadcasting Council to talk about, during the meeting, the investigation he initiated concerning the fine to be imposed on TVN.
The meeting was attended, among others, by the members of the National Broadcasting Council, including its chairman Maciej Świrski, and members Hanna Karp and Tadeusz Kowalski. Świrski explained that it had not been decided yet what fine would be imposed, whether the fine would be imposed at all, and whether there was a basis for fining the station.
“The investigation is currently underway. If the media, when they hear or see the news about “investigation on fining,” are convinced that the fine will be imposed, it is a problem of the media. But I think that the deputies should interpret such news as the fact that the investigation is pending,” said Maciej Świrski.
The Chairman of the Council did not want to reveal who exactly worked for the National Broadcasting Council as an expert during the proceedings to fine TVN. “For the sake of the proceedings, information about details of the proceedings will be provided after the decision is made,” he said.
Member of the National Broadcasting Council Hanna Karp said: “If you think that by pressing us, by exerting various kinds of pressure, you will help this great media empire to finally resolve the matter, then you are very wrong. You are acting to its detriment by making the whole situation highly political.
When Karp read out parts of the complaint by Law and Justice deputy Antoni Macierewicz against Siła kłamstwa arguing that the report presented a Russian point of view, opposition deputies interrupted her, and Joanna Scheuring-Wielgus of the Left club asked whether the member of the Council had actually seen the report at all. However, that question remained unanswered.
Joanna Scheuring-Wielgus also addressed Chairman Świrski: “Instead of standing by journalists and media freedom, you stand by the politician of the ruling camp (Antoni Macierewicz, following whose complaint the Chairman of the Council initiated the investigation, editor’s note).
The actions of the Chairman of the Council were also criticized by opposition deputies. Piotr Adamowicz of the Civic Coalition club said that with his administrative proceedings, Chairman Maciej Świrski wanted to restrict freedom of expression and the right to information and to restrict actions pursued in the name of the public interest, thus effectively suppressing criticism by the press.
The opposition member of the Council, Professor Tadeusz Kowalski (elected by the Senate), also disassociated himself from the activities of the Chairman of the Council. “I would ask you to distinguish between the activities of the Chairman of the Council and activities of the National Broadcasting Council as a collective body. No decision of the collective body has been made on this issue, and in my opinion there is no chance that such a decision is made, whether in favor of or against the case,” said Professor Tadeusz Kowalski.
Deputies of the ruling party, including Joanna Lichocka of the Law and Justice Club, defended actions undertaken by the Council. Lichocka said that she had an impression that the committee was convened to put pressure on the constitutional body to stop its work. “We have to wait for the decision made by that authority and do not interfere with its work,” said Joanna Lichocka.
Weronika Mirowska, Chairwoman of the Grand Press Foundation, wanted to attend the meeting of the committee. Mirowska filed a motion on this matter to the Chairman of the Committee, Piotr Babinetz of the Law and Justice, who did not agree for Mirowska to attend.
“There were several e-mail requests for participation in today’s committee meetings, but as these committees have been appointed pursuant to art. 152 (Rules of Procedure of the Sejm – editor’s note), only those persons who were designated by the proposers of the motion were invited,” Piotr Babinetz explained the refusal.
However, art. 152 of the Rules of Procedure of the Sejm does not mention who can be invited to the meeting. This provision merely states that “committee meetings shall take place within the time limits set by the committee itself” and that “at the written request of at least one-third of the total number of committee members, the committee chairman shall be required to convene a committee meeting to review a particular matter.” The provision also mentions that the Marshal of the Sejm might not agree to a meeting of the committee and specifies that “members of the committee, the Praesidium of the Sejm, the Supreme Audit Office and interested state authorities shall be informed of the date and agenda of the meeting of the committee.”
Despite the absence of Weronika Mirowska, her statement was read by Małgorzata Kidawa-Błońska, a deputy of the Civil Coalition club.
“Pursuant to Article 214(2) of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland ‘a member of the National Broadcasting Council may not belong to a political party, trade union, or engage in public activities that cannot be reconciled with the dignity of the function performed.’ In recent weeks, we have clearly seen that the Chairman of the Council has not cared for the dignity of his function and, what is even more reproachable, despite the fact that he does not officially belong to any political party, he has eagerly fulfilled the objectives of the ruling party,” said Weronika Mirowska, President of the Grand Press Foundation, in her statement.
She added that the fact that Chairman Świrski did not defend the values that the National Broadcasting Council should follow, but acted in the interest of one highly controversial Law and Justice politician, was reprehensible. “It is unprecedented that the Chairman of the Council has called on a television station to respond to Antoni Macierewicz’s statements and explanations. It is a bizarre situation,” reads the statement of the Grand Press Foundation.
Weronika Mirowska recalled that the leading representatives of the Polish media voted to award Siła kłamstwa at the Grand Press 2022 gala and that the National Broadcasting Council engaged in harassing actions that were targeted not only at TVN24 but also at other free media, including FM Tok radio.
At the end of December, the Chairman of the National Broadcasting Council Maciej Świrski initiated an ex officio investigation into imposing a fine on TVN for the Siła kłamstwa report. In the report, its main author, Piotr Świerczek, proves that the parliamentary subcommittee led by Antoni Macierewicz of Law and Justice hid evidence that was inconsistent with the theory of the Smolensk attack. As the National Broadcasting Council stated in its December press release, the purpose of the investigation is to determine if the Siła kłamstwa report infringed upon provisions of the Media Act by promoting untrue information and actions contrary to the Polish raison d’état and threatening public security. The broadcaster is facing a fine of nearly PLN 1 million.
In January, several dozen editorial offices made Siła kłamstwa available on their websites in a gesture of solidarity with TVN.