The Culture Ministry announces layoffs and cites the need to restore the impartiality of state news agencies.

The management of Polish public television, radio and the state news agency PAP was fired, and a public news channel that critics said had become politicized under the previous government was shut down.

The culture ministry under Poland’s new EU-friendly government announced the dismissal of chairmen and boards in a statement on Wednesday, citing the need to restore media impartiality.

Critics say state media, particularly the 24-hour news channel TVP Info, has become an outlet for propaganda during Law and Justice’s (PiS) eight-year term.

On Wednesday, TVP Info’s signal disappeared and with it the website.

“The end of TVPiS. “TVP Info has been switched off,” posted the Citizens Platform – the largest party in the new government – ​​on X.

prime minister Donald Tusks The coalition that took power last week has promised to create news outlets that take a more balanced approach.

On Tuesday, Poland’s new parliament passed a resolution calling on “all state authorities to take immediate measures aimed at restoring constitutional order with regard to citizens’ access to reliable information and the functioning of public media.”

The vote prompted PiS lawmakers to stage a sit-in at state television buildings, during which party officials posed for photos with television staff.

“This is clearly an attack on the free media, it is a violation of the law,” Piotr Glinski, a former culture minister in the PiS government, told AFP about the reshuffle.

On Wednesday, Maciej Swirski, chairman of the National Broadcasting Council, said: “The shutdown of the television signal and the TVP information websites is an act of lawlessness and is reminiscent of the worst times of martial law,” referring to events during the communist era in Poland .

Swirski was appointed to the Broadcasting Council by the last parliament on the recommendation of the PiS.

“The illegal actions of the Minister of Culture regarding TVP, Polish Radio and PAP show how the authorities, who supposedly care about the rule of law, violate it at every turn,” wrote former PiS Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki on X.

“We are not giving up. We will not allow the establishment of a dictatorship in Poland,” he added.

The PiS government has been widely criticized by the opposition and non-profit organizations for attempting to suppress independent media and restrict freedom of expression.

Global media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said in 2020: “Partisan discourse and hate speech are still the norm in us.” [Poland’s] state media turned into government propaganda mouthpieces.”

When Tusk’s government took office, it began reversing the previous government’s policies, which many in Poland found divisive.

The parties that make up the new government collectively won the majority of votes in the October 15 election. They have vowed to govern together under the leadership of Tusk, who was prime minister from 2007 to 2014 and chair of the European Council from 2014 to 2019.