Due to the severe weather situation, a crisis team meeting was held at the Ministry of the Interior and Administration, attended by the Prime Minister, Donald Tusk, and the Minister of the Interior, Tomasz Siemoniak. As usual, Tusk spoke of an “information diversion,” while—at the same time—TV Republika was denied access to the event. The same situation happened in September 2024 during the floods.
According to forecasts from the Institute of Meteorology and Water Management (IMGW), heavy rainfall is expected to persist in central Poland in the near future, with an intensity of 5 to 10 mm/h. However, the intensity is expected to gradually decrease. Rainfall totals of an additional 15–35 mm are anticipated by midday.
TV Republika Not Admitted!
This morning, a crisis team meeting was held at the headquarters of the Ministry of the Interior and Administration, with the participation of, among others, Donald Tusk and Tomasz Siemoniak. As expected, TV Republika was not allowed to attend the event.
“We wanted to report on the government’s actions related to the heavy rains and the flood threat. A properly submitted accreditation was not processed. TV Republika’s cameraman was not on the list of individuals permitted to attend the crisis meeting. Tusk is acting exactly as he did a year ago when he cut off TV Republika’s viewers from information about the flood. In doing so, the Prime Minister is endangering 10 million Poles who rely on TV Republika for information,” said Jarosław Olechowski, head of TV Republika’s editorial team.
A similar incident occurred in 2024 during the flood in the southwestern part of the country. The scandal caused a widespread outcry at the time, as millions of Poles were denied access to information about what was happening in Poland.
Reference to the 2024 Flood
Nevertheless, TV Republika broadcast the event using a signal made available online. It was only thanks to that that Poles were able to hear what Tusk had to say during the meeting. He also referred to events from autumn 2024, when, just before the flood, he insisted that “the forecasts are not overly alarming.” He essentially maintains that stance.
“We have experience from that time, just before the September flood. I would strongly ask that we refrain from overly optimistic interpretations of forecasts that may not sound alarming at the moment. But you’ll recall — literally a day before the dramatic events — those forecasts did not sound pessimistic. Some people drew false conclusions from that, because such forecasts can demobilise. Based on the nighttime information I received, there is no doubt that there is—and will continue to be—a local threat, possibly involving violent events. Therefore, even if the total rainfall figures do not sound particularly extreme, I very much want all local services to understand that at any moment, particularly in foothill regions, sudden, dramatic events requiring immediate assistance may occur,” said Tusk.
He later stated, “We have learned many valuable lessons from the last flood.”
Referring to the comments of experts participating in the meeting, he strongly emphasised the issue of information diversion:
“We will have to deal with it—there’s no doubt about that. If more massive events occur, their consequences will surely include information diversion—sometimes out of stupidity, sometimes ill will, but, as we remember from the last flood, also due to organised diversion by enemies of the Polish state. We had such incidents in the Wrocław area. That is also your responsibility. It’s not enough to inform us here—although that is necessary. But I would also ask the appropriate services to immediately correct such information in the public sphere. It’s clear that fake news and such information sabotage aim to incite anxiety or panic. Immediate, public clarification of such incidents will be needed,” he declared forcefully.
Sakiewicz: We Are Reporting the Matter to the Prosecutor’s Office
The head of the Free Speech House station responded to the situation, announcing legal action.
“Once again, TV Republika’s camera operators were not admitted to the crisis team meeting. We are probably the only television station that was treated this way. Two independent courts have deemed such conduct worthy of prosecution. This is happening at a time when reliable information is a vital component of protecting public health and safety. We are reporting the matter to the prosecutor’s office once again,” he wrote on x.com.