Poland’s proposed media rules threaten press freedom

LAW AND JUSTICEPS),TVP,PSTVNPKN (i the party that rules Poland, dislikes critics. Soon after coming to power in 2015, it took control of the public television broadcaster, and purged its management. Since then, Poland has slipped from 18th place in a World Press Freedom Index compiled by Reporters Without Borders, a non-profit group, to 64th, its lowest-ever ranking. Now i has turned its attention to , a television station owned by Discovery, an American media giant. A bill limiting foreign ownership of media companies adopted on August 11th by the Sejm, the lower chamber of parliament, could force Discovery to sell. Liberals fear that Poland’s independent media are in jeopardy.“The Polish media should be Polish,” says Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the ruling party’s chairman and the country’s de facto leader. “Repolonisation” has become a buzzword in all sorts of industries. In March Orlen, a state-owned oil refiner, bought Polska Press, the country’s leading newspaper publisher, from its German owner. Senior editors were subsequently replaced.