Yesterday, a session for the Committee for Liaison with Polonia Abroad ended in chaos as ministry representatives who were summoned to explain the actions of Tusk’s government in shutting down TVP World refused to attend, and the Chairman abruptly closed the meeting.
Representatives from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage were to explain why important channels of communication for Polonia and the international community such as TVP World, continue to be offline. However, the representatives failed to attend, and the Committee ended abruptly and without explanation.
“At the Committee on Liaison with Polonia Abroad, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage were to inform us about the situation regarding channels for Polonia abroad. But – no one from the ministries showed up, and the chairman quickly closed the discussion and fled the meeting. This is what Polish “democracy” looks like. They don’t want anyone to notice?”
MP Piotr Glinski said yesterday.
TVP World spoke directly to the world’s audience in English broadcasting a CEE point of view on many of the issues affecting the World, and was rapidly gaining in success. TVP World, because it reported on Russia’s illegal conflict in Ukraine, grew by 145.8% in the three months after the outbreak of war and also gained a large audience on streaming platforms.
“TVP World had made a name for itself and for years had been reporting on what was happening beyond our eastern border and what Poland’s role was in the matter. Very many political circles, academia, and NGOs used the Polish medium. As a result of the entry of Minister Sienkiewicz’s people, this channel remains off the air until today. Poland has lost a key tool for communicating in English and its place in informing public opinion across the world,”
MP Jan Dziedziczak said today.
Shortly before being pulled off air in December 2023, TVP World became the third most-watched service from TVP on YouTube and had nearly half a million subscribers. Therefore, TVP World became an integral part of communicating with Polonia and the world and was an influential news outlet in its own right.
“Our question is this: is this how parliamentarism is supposed to look under Tusk’s government? Is this how the work of the Sejm under Speaker Holownia is supposed to look? Until now, the Commission was a place of opportunity to ask questions, to discuss with the government, after all, the essence of parliamentarism is that citizens send their representatives to present the opinions of various groups. At the moment, parliamentarism is as I have just mentioned. Does the Speaker approve of something like this?”
MP Jan Dziedziczak called on Speaker Szymon Hołownia to act concerning the no-show at the Committee.
“We also appeal to all journalists, because the topic concerns the media. These four channels – TVP Polonia, TVP World, TVP Wilno or the Polish Radio for Abroad program – were not involved in the current political conflict. They are currently being transformed into thematic editorial offices, so their power will be much smaller, and their ability to influence and contact both the Polish community and public opinion abroad will be negligible,”
MP Piotr Glinski also appealed to the world of media to intervene.