Independent Media Under Pressure on the Eve of the Presidential Election in Poland

The Photo is only Used for Illustration Purpose

Two journalists have been accused of breaking health rules while covering anti-government rallies, while the private TVN is the target of repeated attacks. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) calls on the Polish authorities not to take advantage of the health crisis to sabotage the work of the independent media covering the electoral campaign.

On the eve of the presidential election, that the ruling party, Law and Justice (PiS), and the outgoing president, Andrzej Duda, want to maintain at all costs this Sunday, May 10 despite the pandemic, attacks on the media independent intensify.

Two journalists are currently the subject of legal proceedings for covering anti-government protests. Photographer Wojciech Jakub Atys of Gazeta Wyborcza has learned that he should appear in courtafter covering a rally on March 29 in front of the house of Jarosław Kaczynski, the leader of the government party, PiS, in Warsaw. On that day, a handful of protesters denounced an amendment to the electoral code due to a pandemic which stipulated that voters will only vote by post during the presidential election on May 10. The photographer is accused of having broken anti-coronavirus rules by gathering with other people in a public space without having respected social social distancing. He may have to pay a fine of up to 60,000 zlotys (around 13,000 euros).

A videographer from the independent OKO.press site , whose name has not been specified by the site, faces a similar case of judicial harassment . She must answer two absurd accusations: absence of social distancing in public space and organization of a rally, after simply going on April 10 to the home of the leader of the PiS where another demonstration was to be held, which ultimately did not happen. She too risks being fined up to 13,000 euros.

Filming a demonstration against the government also caused freelance journalist Włodzimierz Ciejka to spend two hours at the police station on March 28 on the pretext of violating health rules which prohibit gatherings.

As for the private channel TVN , owned by the American group Discovery, it is the target of an aggressive campaign . Between April 14 and 18, public television TVP, known for its proximity to power, daily attacked TVN’s main news program accusing it of unprofessionalism or having links with secret services Communists before 1989. These attacks were obviously aimed at discrediting a critical media vis-à-vis the government on the eve of the presidential election in which the current president, Andrzej Duda, is running.

” Unjustified pressure against independent media under the pretext of fighting the coronavirus or links with the former communist regime is unacceptable ,” said RSF European Union and Balkans office manager Pavol Szalai. These attacks are all the more reprehensible because they occur in a pre-electoral period when citizens need reliable information to make their choice . ”

After falling by 3 positions in 2020, Poland currently holds 62 ^nd place in the World Press Freedom Ranking established by RSF .