Polish Radio

Polskie Radio (Polish Radio) is Poland’s national public service radio broadcaster. Established in 1925, it operates eight national radio channels and a network of 17 regional stations. It also manages city channels in seven Polish cities, the international outlet Radio Poland, and the English-language news portal TheNews.pl.

Media assets

Radio: National- Jedynka, Dwójka, Trójka, Czwórka, Polskie Radio 24 (PR24), Polskie Radio Chopin, Polskie Radio Dzieciom; Regional- Radio Białystok, Radio Pomorza i Kujaw, Radio Gdańsk, Radio Katowice, Radio Kielce, Radio Koszalin, Radio Kraków, Radio Lublin, Radio Łódź, Radio Olsztyn, Radio Opole, Radio Poznań, Radio Rzeszów, Radio Szczecin, Polskie Radio RDC, Radio Wrocław, Radio Zachód, City- Radio Gorzów, Radio Free, MC Radio, Radio Słupsk, Radio Szczecin Extra, Radio RAM, Radio Zielona Góra; International- Radio Poland

News portal: TheNews

State Media Matrix Typology

 Independent State Funded and State Managed/Owned (ISFM)

Ownership and governance

The public broadcasting media in Poland, including TVP and Polish Radio, are regulated by the Broadcasting Act, which was first adopted in 1992 and has since been amended multiple times. Polish Radio functions as a state-owned joint-stock company. The Minister of State Treasury determines its statutes in consultation with the National Broadcasting Council (KRRiT).

The legal provisions adopted in 2015–2016 that changed the governance structures of the public media affected Polish Radio in a similar manner as they affected TVP, granting the government greater control over staffing and management.

After opposition parties won sufficient seats in the elections on 15 October 2023 to take power from the right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) party, the public service media in the country, including TVP, Polish Radio, and the news agency PAP, went through major changes.

The new coalition—comprising the centrist Civic Coalition (KO), centre-right Third Way (Trzecia Droga), and The Left (Lewica), and led by Prime Minister Donald Tusk—began reforming the public media in the fall of 2023. Their declared goal was to transform these institutions into independent, impartial, and pluralistic outlets. However, their attempts were blocked by former President Andrzej Duda, who is closely aligned with PiS.

In late December 2023, Duda vetoed a bill related to state media subsidies that the coalition had put forward, labeling their actions an “illegal” seizure of public media. In response, on 27 December 2023 the culture minister announced that TVP, Polish Radio, and PAP would be placed into liquidation, a legal manoeuvre intended to wrest control of public service media from PiS-appointed management.

A key leadership change followed: Paweł Majcher was appointed General Director of Polish Radio at the end of December 2023, succeeding PiS-linked managers. Majcher, a former journalist and editor, has overseen the restructuring process since then.

Source of funding and budget

Polish Radio, like its larger counterpart TVP, is funded through a combination of license fees, government subsidies, and advertising. Around 40% of its annual income comes from the license fee. However, due to low collection rates, the government frequently intervenes to cover losses with direct subsidies. This has made state funding a powerful tool for exerting control over the broadcaster. According to the European Audiovisual Observatory, Polish Radio operated with a budget of €67.2 million in 2022.

Editorial independence

The Broadcasting Act stipulates that public media must ensure pluralism, impartiality, balance, autonomy, innovation, and integrity. Yet these provisions are vaguely worded and lack enforcement mechanisms. There is no independent body overseeing editorial independence at Polish Radio, leaving it vulnerable to political influence regardless of which party is in power.

The government has historically exerted heavy influence over the editorial affairs of Polish Radio. The legal reforms of 2015–2016 gave the ruling party the power to reshape employment structures, and many independent journalists were dismissed soon after. In their place, pro-government voices supportive of PiS were installed, transforming the station into a broadcaster aligned with government narratives.

International watchdogs have repeatedly raised concerns. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) described the Polish public media—including Polskie Radio—as “government propaganda mouthpieces” during the PiS years. Back then, PiS loyalists occupied top management positions at Polish Radio, undermining editorial autonomy.

Following the October 2023 elections, however, the new government began reinstating some journalists dismissed under PiS, and attempted to rebalance programming. Despite these changes, accusations of political bias now occasionally target the new coalition, underscoring the persistent fragility of the broadcaster’s independence.

In the absence of any evidence of censorship in 2025, and given that its coverage has shown marked improvements in balance and independence compared with the PiS years, Polish Radio has been reclassified in our State Media Monitor typology as Independent State Funded and State Managed/Owned (ISFM).

September 2025