For several months, representatives of TV Republika have had problems accessing conferences organized by the Prime Minister’s Office. The government does not grant accreditation to journalists from stations, for example, for foreign delegations of Prime Minister Donald Tusk.
In January, a reporter and cameraman from Telewizja Republika were not allowed to attend a press conference at the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage. It was not given why.
At the end of July, TV Republika filed a complaint with the National Broadcasting Council against the actions of the Prime Minister’s Office. According to the broadcaster, the actions of the Prime Minister’s Office violate not only the Press Law, but also the Constitution, which guarantees freedom of speech.
To look: TV Republika denied access to ministerial conferences. The Commissioner for Human Rights intervenes
The Prime Minister’s Office responds: TV Republika “broke the rules”
The reasons for the lack of press accreditations for reporters were outlined by Maciej Berek from the Prime Minister’s Office in response to a question from MP Grzegorz Płaczek.
“Despite repeated requests to comply with the rules, TV Republika began to disrupt the course of meetings organized by the Government Information Center at the Prime Minister’s Office,” we read in response to the deputy’s letter.
Further in the letter we read that TV Republika received accreditation for the meeting of the Prime Minister’s Chancellery with the media, the topic of which was the death of a Polish soldier on the border with Belarus. It is described that the representative of the broadcaster “not only broke, once again, the rules of participation in the event, but also exceeded the limits of ethics, culture and respect for the deceased soldier and his loved ones”.
“There is and will be no consent to such behavior in the Prime Minister’s Office,” Minister Maciej Berek wrote.
Jarosław Olechowski, chief editor of TV Republika, reacted harshly to the letter. In his version of events, the station’s reporter asked “why – as other media outlets, for example @onetpl, reported – the government did not report on the death of a soldier who died on the border with Belarus. Because of this issue, the Prime Minister’s aide sent a journalist to hell, and officials of the Prime Minister’s Office announced that the Republic of Poland would not be allowed to participate in press conferences,” Olechowski explains.
– Freedom of expression is the basis of democracy. Suppressing criticism in the press is illegal. Any official who breaks the law will be held accountable in court. I assure you that we will not lack determination in the fight to defend civil rights and liberties. – Olechowski thunders on social media.
Boss @KPRM_CIR explains that they don’t let journalists in @RepublikaTV for press conferences @Donald Tusk because we allegedly broke – and here’s the quote – “rules regarding participation in the event.” What was this terrible crime? Well, a Republic reporter dared to… ask a question about… pic.twitter.com/glAHdCAIIG
– Jarek Olechowski (@OlechowskiJarek) August 7, 2024
TV Republika since the second half of December last year. reaches an audience dozens of times larger than before. According to data from Nielsen Audience Measurement, in May this year TV Republika’s average minute audience was 148,451 viewers and its audience share was 2.98%. A year earlier it was 5,067 viewers and 0.1%. share.
