- Title: Polish parliament votes in favour of media reform bill
- Date: 11th August 2021
- Summary: WARSAW, POLAND (RECENT - JULY 29, 2021) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF BUILDING OF PRIVATE BROADCASTER OWNED BY DISCOVERY, TVN TVN LOGO ON BUILDING EXTERIOR SATELLITE DISH WITH TVN LOGO ON ROOF LOBBY OF BUILDING DISCOVERY LOGO ON WALL TVN CONTROL ROOM EMPLOYEE AT WORK IN CONTROL ROOM CREW HELPING REPORTER REPORTER WAITING TO DO PIECE TO CAMERA REPORTER PRESENTING INFORMATION SCREENS SHOWING LOGO FOR AFTERNOON BULLETIN MAN SITTING AT TABLE NEXT TO TVN24 LOGO AND LETTERING READING (Polish): "#OUR TWENTY YEARS"
- Embargoed: 25th August 2021 22:56
- Keywords: Law and Justice Polish broadcaster Polish parliament TVN freedom of expression media freedom media law media reform
- Location: WARSAW, POLAND / INTERNET
- City: WARSAW, POLAND / INTERNET
- Country: Poland
- Topics: Europe,Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA008EPU71AF
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Polish lawmakers voted in favour of a bill on Wednesday (August 11) that the opposition says aims to silence a U.S.-owned news channel critical of the government, setting up a clash with one of Warsaw's most important allies.
The bill, which would strengthen a ban on firms from outside the European Economic Area controlling Polish broadcasters, passed with 228 votes in favour, 216 against and 10 abstentions.
It will now go to the upper house of parliament, the Senate.
The ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party says it wants to stop countries such as Russia or China taking control of Polish broadcasters, but critics say it aims to gag TVN24, Poland's most popular news channel, whose licence expires in September.
Opposition lawmaker Borys Budka said the law was unconstitutional and affected Poland's security by discouraging investment from its allies.
Washington has warned that a failure to renew the licence of Discovery-owned news channel TVN24 could jeopardise future investments in Poland.
The bill brought thousands of Poles out onto the streets on Tuesday (August 10) and TVN footage showed groups of protesters surrounded by police outside parliament on Wednesday during the session.
Earlier in the evening, Polish opposition lawmakers said they had shown the governing United Right coalition could not command a majority when they succeeded in passing a motion to postpone the sitting.
However, joy turned to outrage when speaker Elzbieta Witek said the vote had to be repeated because she had forgotten to specify the date until which the sitting was to be postponed.
A second vote rejected the motion, prompting opposition lawmakers to chant "frauds".
However, government spokesman Piotr Muller said on Twitter the repetition of the vote was in line with parliamentary rules, saying opposition objections were absurd.
Uncertainty about the government's ability to command a majority had mounted on Tuesday (August 10) when Jaroslaw Gowin, head of junior coalition partner Accord, was removed from the post of deputy premier.
TVN24's parent, TVN, is owned by the U.S.-based media group Discovery Inc via a firm registered in the Netherlands, to get around a ban on non-European firms owning more than 49% of Polish media companies.
The bill would forbid such an arrangement and comes shortly before the deadline for the renewal of TVN24's license, which expires on Sept. 26.
"The act as adopted is an attack on core democratic principles of freedom of speech, the independence of the media and is directly discriminatory against TVN and Discovery," Discovery said in a statement.
(Production: Lewis Macdonald) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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