The Lower House of Parliament is initiating the debate on the media bill backed by the Civic Platform, the Democratic Left Alliance and the Peasants’ Party.
The bill would do away with the TV and radio subscription fees, replacing them with the Public Tasks Fund financed by tax money paid by media companies. The National Council of Radio Broadcasting and Television, which is to increase to seven members, would distribute the funds to support quality projects. The financial support and a two-year programme license would be available to both public media and private broadcasters, upon meeting the established requirements. The council is to be overseen by a 15-strong programme committee, representing both the Ministry of Culture and media professionals.
The bill would settle the key principles concerning the functioning of public media, says Civic Platform member Iwona Śledzińska-Katarasińska: "The bill has been drawn up to do away with subscription fees; and to protect the public media from complete commercialisation. It is intended to ensure that the public mission is genuinely pursued, so that the public broadcasters differ from the private ones by airing a larger portion of culture, education and science.”
The new law would also determine clear rules on appointing the management boards of public media, which would exclude active politicians.
The new law raises controversy. It has been accused of politicizing the media, contrary to the declarations of its makers. Also, the proposed financing system will most probably not be efficient in the long-run. Public television may be forced to cancel sports transmissions entirely, to the benefit of commercial stations. Conservatives have also criticized the bill over freedom of speech regulations - Christian values are to be excluded from the new so-called 'public mission', while pro-homosexual messages are to be promoted, according to the new law. Polish bishops have protested against that on behalf of the country's over 90% Catholic population.