TVP Info has just shown what “media freedom” looks like in practice. At the moment when President Karol Nawrocki was speaking on stage in Poznań and being greeted with applause and chants of “Karol! Karol!”, the channel… pulled his speech off the air after just 1 minute and 55 seconds. Moments earlier, when the names of Donald Tusk and Włodzimierz Czarzasty were being read out, whistles and booing could be heard from the crowd.
Instead of continuing coverage of the anniversary celebrations of the Greater Poland Uprising, viewers were presented with breaking news that Wołodymyr Zełenski is flying to Florida tomorrow.
Ceremonies in Poznań and clear audience reactions
Today, official celebrations marking the anniversary of the Greater Poland Uprising are taking place in Poznań. As the list of representatives of state and local authorities was read out, the audience reacted very emotionally. When the names of Donald Tusk, Włodzimierz Czarzasty, and Adam Szłapka were announced, whistles and boos rang out from the crowd.
By contrast, President Karol Nawrocki received a noticeably warmer welcome, with applause and chants of support.
Marshal speaks for 10 minutes, broadcast cut after 115 seconds of Nawrocki’s address
The first to take the floor was the Marshal of the Greater Poland Voivodeship, Marek Woźniak, whose speech lasted around ten minutes and was broadcast in full.
Next, President Karol Nawrocki stepped up to the lectern—and that is when something happened that sparked a wave of commentary.
TVP Info cut the live broadcast exactly 1:55 minutes into his speech, immediately switching back to the studio. There, the presenters informed viewers about a foreign visit by Wołodymyr Zełenski, who is scheduled to travel to Florida.
A return to old methods?
Online commentators have suggested that interrupting the speech resembles practices known from the communist era, when the media were tightly controlled and censored. Such actions are nothing less than a form of restricting access to information and selectively shaping the message. In short, censorship has fully returned to TVP “in liquidation.”