Polskie Radio (Polish Radio) is Poland’s national public service radio broadcaster. Established in 1925, Polish Radio operates eight radio channels and a network of 17 regional radio stations. The broadcaster also manages city channels in seven Polish cities, the international channel Radio Poland, and its English 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: State-Controlled (SC)
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. Polish Radio functions as a state-owned joint-stock company. The Minister of State Treasury determines Polish Radio’s statutes in consultation with the 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.
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 have gone through major changes.
The new coalition, comprising the centrist Civic Coalition (KO), center-right Third Way (Trzecia Droga), and The Left (Lewica), led by Prime Minister Donald Tusk, began reforming the public media in the country in the fall of 2023. Their goal was to transform these institutions into independent, impartial, and pluralistic news outlets. However, their attempts have been blocked by Polish President Andrzej Duda, who represents the interests of the PiS party.
In late December 2023, President Duda vetoed a bill related to state media subsidies that the coalition put forward, labeling their actions as “illegal” seizure of public media. In response, the culture minister announced on December 27, 2023, that TVP, Polish Radio, and PAP would be placed into liquidation, a move aimed at taking back control of public service media from the former ruling PiS party. This decision came after the management of TVP, known to be loyal to PiS, was replaced before Christmas 2023.
Source of funding and budget
Polish Radio, like its larger counterpart TVP, is funded through a combination of license fees, government subsidies, and advertising. Polish Radio typically receives about 40% of its revenue from the license fee for public media.
However, similar to TVP, the government frequently intervenes to cover the losses incurred by the radio broadcaster due to low license fee collection rates. Even though the state subsidy may represent less than 50% of Polish Radio’s budget in some years, the government used it as a powerful tool to control the public media.
According to data from the European Audiovisual Observatory, Polish Radio operated with a budget of €67.2m in 2022.
Editorial independence
The government has exerted significant influence over the editorial affairs of the Polish public media (TVP and Polish Radio) for a long time. Legal changes adopted in 2015 and 2016 further solidified this control by granting the government total power over the outlets’ employment structures. The immediate effects were evident as most independent journalists from both TVP and Polish Radio were dismissed shortly after the 2015 legal amendments were passed.
Journalists supportive of the PiS party have been employed instead, which transformed TVP and Polish Radio into openly pro-government media outlets.
Over the past six years, numerous reports from media NGOs, independent journalists, and experts have criticized the increased government control over the editorial independence of the Polish public media. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has stated that the Polish public media serve as “government propaganda mouthpieces.”
Over the past six years, politicians from the PiS party have been chosen for top management positions at the station. This has had a negative impact on the station’s news coverage. For instance, with Jacek Kurski, a PiS politician, leading TVP, the station’s news reports became overly supportive of the government and critical of the opposition. After a period away from the director position, Kurski was re-appointed as head of TVP in July 2020.
After the 2023 elections, the new government began reforming the station by rehiring journalists who had been dismissed by the previous administration. However, there are ongoing concerns about the broadcaster’s editorial independence, with accusations of bias towards the current government surfacing occasionally.
The Broadcasting Act enshrines the responsibilities of Poland’s public service media, TVP and Polish Radio. The act requires the public media to provide services, including information, journalism, culture, entertainment, education, and sports services, that demonstrate pluralism, impartiality, balance, autonomy, innovation, high quality, and integrity. However, these requirements are vaguely worded and have no impact on the broadcasters’ editorial independence, as they are routinely ignored.
There is no independent/oversight mechanism validating the editorial independence of the publisher.
August 2024