FILE – Warsaw headquarters of Poland’s TVN broadcaster that is owned by the U.S. company Discovery Inc., in Warsaw, Poland, July 8, 2021. Poland’s president will have the final decision on a controversial media bill seen as targeting a U.S.-owned TV network that’s often critical of the Polish government, after lawmakers overturned a Senate veto on the proposed legislation. It would prevent any non-European entity from owning more than a 49% stake in Polish broadcasters, the practical effect would be to force Discovery Inc., the U.S. owner of Poland’s largest private television network, TVN, to sell its Polish holdings.
Dagmara Kaczmarek-Szałkow, a news presenter for TVN24, speaks during a live news broadcast in Warsaw, Poland, on Saturday Dec. 18, 2021. Poles are filling the streets of cities across Poland on Sunday evening to defend a U.S.-owned television network that is being targeted by the right-wing government, protests meant as a broader defense of media freedoms in a nation where democratic norms are eroding. The protests, led by anti-government groups, were called after the parliament on Friday unexpectedly passed a bill that would force Discovery Inc. to sell its controlling share of TVN, Poland’s largest television network.
Monitors are shown in the newsroom of TVN24, part of the TVN network in Poland owned by U.S. company Discovery, Inc., in Warsaw, Poland, on Saturday Dec. 18, 2021. Poles are filling the streets of cities across Poland on Sunday evening to defend a U.S.-owned television network that is being targeted by the right-wing government, protests meant as a broader defense of media freedoms in a nation where democratic norms are eroding. The protests, led by anti-government groups, were called after the parliament on Friday unexpectedly passed a bill that would force Discovery Inc. to sell its controlling share of TVN, Poland’s largest television network.
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poles flocked to city centers across the country Sunday to defend a U.S.-owned television network that is being targeted by the country’s right-wing government and to protect media freedoms in a European Union nation where democratic norms are eroding.
Among the protesters were older Poles who decades ago resisted the country’s communist regime. They fear that the democracy that they helped usher in is now being lost to them. They believe Poland’s populist right-wing government is turning the country away from the West and adopting an authoritarian model closer to that of Turkey or Russia with attempts to exert political control over the courts and silence critical media.
The protests, led by opposition groups, were called after the parliament on Friday unexpectedly passed a bill that would force Discovery Inc. to sell its controlling share of TVN, Poland’s largest television network.
TVN operates an all-news channel TVN24 and its main channel, TVN, has a nightly evening news program viewed by millions that offers critical reporting of the government.
The fate of the bill now lies with President Andrzej Duda. The main protest on Sunday took place in front of the presidential palace in Warsaw, with demonstrators demanding that the president veto the bill.
