Michal Adamczyk, the head of TVP, concluded his three-week sit-in at Television Information Agency (TAI) headquarters on Saturday, signaling the end of his protest. Despite ending the sit-in, Adamczyk affirmed that the battle against the government’s media restructuring would persist until victory.
Addressing the media outside the TAI building during a press conference on Saturday, Adamczyk expressed gratitude to supporters of legal, true, and free Polish Television for their continuous words of encouragement over the past three weeks.
Reflecting on events leading up to his protest, Adamczyk stated, “On December 20 last year, by force and violence, lawlessness and deception, the legal authorities of TVP were expelled, with many journalists, employees, and collaborators facing expulsion. The legal signal of Telewizja Polska was turned off, replaced by the authoritarians’ signal. These methods and actions are reminiscent of those employed in Belarus.”
Last month, Poland’s new government assumed control of public media outlets, initiating a series of controversial changes. Culture Minister Bartlomiej Sienkiewicz dismissed the boards of all public media, took the state 24-hour news channel, TVP Info, off the air, and liquidated the country’s public television (Telewizja Polska or TVP), radio, and news agency. The government’s alleged goal was to “restore impartiality to state media.” However, this decision has faced widespread criticism, particularly from politicians associated with the former ruling party Law and Justice (PiS).
Members of the PiS have been staging protests at various media institutions, including the TAI headquarters, denouncing the illegal takeover of state media since the controversial appointment of new public media management boards.