The Polish public media gets a “national mission”

Just what we need—a state media arm dedicated to promoting nationalism. The Columbia Journalism review has an article about recent moves by Poland’s governing Law and Justice party to consolidate its control of Poland’s public institutions.

Charges of rising nativism in Poland’s press come just two months after the country’s rightist Law and Justice party, which took power in a landslide legislative victory in October, pushed through a hastily-drafted amendment to the country’s media law, granting the government tighter control of the country’s respected public news service, the Polish Press Agency (PAP). Several high profile Polish journalists have either been fired or quit in protest since the law took effect in early January.

Early this month, Polish Culture minister Krzysztof Czabański told Germany’s Deutsche Welle that he hopes to transform the PAP from a “public” broadcaster into one with a “national mission” focused on Polish history and patriotism.

For background here are articles at the Guardian, BBC and EurActiv.