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Lower house discusses contested media reform bill

Poland’s Sejm (Lower house of the country’s parliament) decided on Wednesday to progress on to the second reading of an amendment of the so-called ‘media act’ that would introduce a ban on non-European ownership of domestic media.

According to the draft amendment tabled by MPs from the Law and Justice (PiS – senior party in Poland’s ruling coalition), a license to transmit radio and television programs may be obtained by an entity based in a member state of the European Economic Area (EEA), provided that it is not dependent on a foreign person from outside the EEA.

The amendment could potentially force the American Discovery concern to sell the commercial broadcaster TVN, which, according to many observers, will be the main “victim” of the act, commonly referred to by the opposition and some media “Lex TVN”.

Marek Suski, a prominent ruling party MP, said that PiS will submit amendments to the contested bill, extending the transition period, so that a “certain station [TVN] could adjust its shares to Polish regulations.”

The authors of the bill point out that similar solutions, or even more strict, with regard to the limited access of the non-EU capital to the purchase of media in a member state, are in force in countries such as France, Austria and Germany. During the debate over the draft, the opposition loudly expressed its criticism towards the proposed regulations, comparing it to the solutions from authoritarian regimes like Belarus, Russia and Turkey.

Due to numerous amendments to the draft amendment of the bill, which were submitted both by the ruling party and the opposition, it was again referred to the Culture and Media Committee.

The committee will meet at 2:30 pm local time and the amendments submitted during the debate will be put to a vote. Then the draft will be returned to a vote in the Sejm.

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