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Polish media market ‘pluralistic’: gov’t spokeswoman

PR dla Zagranicy
Grzegorz Siwicki 28.11.2018 11:30
The Polish media market is “pluralistic” and the media reflects “a full spectrum of opinion,” the government spokeswoman in Warsaw said on Wednesday.
Joanna Kopcińska. Photo: PAP/Leszek SzymańskiJoanna Kopcińska. Photo: PAP/Leszek Szymański

Joanna Kopcińska made a statement to the state PAP news agency after the US ambassador in Warsaw, Georgette Mosbacher, wrote a letter to Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki to express her “deep concern” over a probe by law enforcement authorities affecting American-owned private Polish television broadcaster TVN.

“We do not intend to refer directly to the contents of the letter of US Ambassador Georgette Mosbacher or the fact it has been published by the media,” Kopcińska said in her statement.

She added that "in our opinion, diplomacy requires calm and prudence.”

Kopcińska also said that Poland and the United States enjoyed “very good relations” and that “one incident will not change this," PAP reported.

Polish conservative weekly Do Rzeczy on Monday reported that Mosbacher had voiced criticism of an ongoing investigation into a disputed TV exposé aired by TVN.

Various Polish media outlets have since published copies of the letter, dated November 19.

“I hope that members of your government will refrain from attacking, let alone prosecuting, independent journalists, who articulate public interests and strengthen our societies,” Mosbacher wrote in the letter, as revealed by the media.

The Polish government spokeswoman said in her statement to PAP that Poland, in the same way as the United States, values freedom of speech and "in no way limits media freedom," PAP reported.

Michał Dworczyk, head of the Prime Minister's Office, said on Tuesday that Polish law enforcers were being guided exclusively by the national interest as they probed the disputed exposé, which TVN aired in January.

Claims of media 'sham'

The broadcaster in January aired footage that appeared to show a group of neo-Nazis meeting in a forest in southern Poland and glorifying fascism while celebrating the anniversary of Hitler's birth.

The broadcaster said at the time that the footage was a result of its investigation into nationalist groups in Poland and included recordings of the Pride and Modernity organisation’s celebrations of Adolf Hitler’s birth anniversary in May 2017.

But conservative news website wpolityce.pl suggested this month that the infamous celebration was a staged event and “a sham for which its organiser was paid PLN 20,000” [EUR 4,500, USD 5,300].

Stanisław Żaryn, a spokesman for Poland's security services chief, said on November 8 that testimony by a man detained in the probe contained a claim that the event dubbed by the media “the Hitler birthday party” was staged after it was “commissioned” by people unknown to him.

Justice Minister and Prosecutor-General Zbigniew Ziobro told reporters that same day that prosecutors were probing whether someone had paid for the “Hitler birthday party” to be held, and that they were also investigating how a TVN journalist had been invited to the event.

Meanwhile, broadcaster TVN denied paying money to the man detained in the probe “or anyone who participated in organising the Adolf Hitler birthday party."

The broadcaster, which is controlled by US company Discovery, suggested the detained man was lying.

(gs/pk)

Source: PAP

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