The National Broadcasting Council (KRRiT) is seeking explanations from TVP in liquidation over a programme in which the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) was equated with the Home Army (AK). In a statement, the Council said the broadcaster had shown a lack of “particular sensitivity and diligence” required when discussing issues related to national remembrance.
The matter concerns the programme Kłamstwo nie przejdzie (Eng. The lie will not stand) aired on TVP Info on June 12. During the broadcast, historian Kazimierz Wóycicki said that a comparison between the AK and the UPA “is beyond any doubt.” “I believe that Polish-Ukrainian relations should be based on the understanding that the AK and the UPA were two national liberation armies, and meetings were already taking place during the war,” he said, before stating outright: “The AK is the UPA.”
As KRRiT noted, “during the broadcast, statements were made comparing the Home Army to the UPA and attributing responsibility for the Volhynia massacres to Poles. These remarks were left without any reaction from the programme’s host, Mateusz Dolatowski, while the journalist did not allow a participant who tried to challenge them to speak.”
“Dr Agnieszka Glapiak, Chairwoman of KRRiT, expects explanations regarding the way the discussion was conducted and how the public broadcaster fulfilled its duties in terms of reliability, pluralism and responsibility for the content presented,”
the statement reads.
The Council stressed that “issues concerning national remembrance and historical facts require particular sensitivity and diligence, which were lacking in the broadcast aired by TVP S.A. in liquidation.”