“With disbelief and indignation, we received the attacks from regime-controlled media against our station, which, according to July viewership surveys, is the largest television broadcaster in Poland and, since the beginning of the year, the largest news channel,”reads the statement by TV Republika’s president, Tomasz Sakiewicz, following the offensive launched by TVN and state-run TVP under liquidation against the Free Speech Zone’s television network.
TVN claims it was unable to broadcast the ceremonies in Gdańsk, while simultaneously attacking TV Republika. However, TV Republika provided its signal free of charge to all interested stations, a service used by Polsat, among others. TVN and TVP under liquidation acted quite differently, choosing instead to attack the station that carried out the transmission. “Turn back from the path of lies, it is never too late to do so,”responded TV Republika’s program director, Michał Rachoń.
An official statement from TV Republika’s president has also been issued.
“With disbelief and indignation, we received the attacks from regime-controlled media against our station, which, according to July viewership surveys, is the largest television broadcaster in Poland and, since the beginning of the year, the largest news channel. This time, the reason for the attack is the fact that we carried out and made available free of charge to all interested parties the broadcast of the 45th anniversary celebrations of ‘Solidarity.’ In accordance with established practice and applicable law, we asked users to indicate the source of the signal. This is a requirement TVP always enforces on us, even though it is obligated to provide access to broadcasts of events of significant public importance,” wrote Tomasz Sakiewicz in his statement.
“At the request of the largest private media group, we even agreed that the attribution would appear only at the beginning and end of the broadcast,” Sakiewicz added.
“TVN, whose founders come from the communist apparatus of repression, refused to engage in talks on this matter. The illegal TVP preferred to steal our signal by using the social media accounts of the President’s Chancellery. What is outrageous is that, while stealing our signal, they simultaneously claim they could not make use of it. The transmission was carried out at the request of Solidarity,” the statement from TV Republika’s president concludes.