President Lech Kaczynski said the controversial media bill has “serious flaws”, Monday, after talks with artists, journalists and media experts.
Around 30 participants attended the meeting, including film director Agnieszka Holland, Maciej Strembosz from the National Chamber of Audiovisual Producers and Jerzy Domanski from the Association of Polish Journalists.
President Kaczynski said the bill - which seeks to abolish the license fee and replace it with funding from direct taxation - is flawed in a number of areas and should be examined thoroughly. President Kaczynski warned that, "the current bill will only give public media serious problems, if not total liquidation," adding that it would also completely politicise public media.
Kaczynski was especially critical of the method by which the level of funding for public TV and radio would be arrived at, giving the government direct power over financing.
"The final decision would be made by a parliamentary majority in the case of funding, or rather the lack of it," he said. “It goes without saying that public media would become reliant on the government in power, something which the OSCE has criticised Poland for."
Piotr Kownacki, head of the Presidential Chancellery, stressed that an independent source of funding was crucial for the effective functioning of the media, a condition he considers not secured in the bill. He added that collecting fees through “stealth taxes” added to electricity bills or corporate and private income tax could provide such funding, adding that "[...] their advantage is that they are an independent and automatic source of finance."
President Kaczynski has until July 17 to sign the bill, veto it or pass it on to the Constitutional Tribunal. (aba/jb/pg)