The situation for independent media outlets in Europe is worrisome. Not just in Poland and Hungary, but in other EU member states too. Addressing the issues will require more brave and short-term actions from the EU, according to professor Adam Bodnar, former Ombudsman of the Republic of Poland.
In Poland, the media market was relatively well balanced and pluralistic before 2015. The National Broadcasting Council, responsible for regulating and supervising public radio and tv broadcastings, was regarded as an independent institution. However, it was one of the major reforms of the new “Law and Justice” government to bring public media under governmental control.
In 2016, a new institution was created – the Council of National Media. Its task was to control the appointment of all top officials to state media. The powers of the National Broadcasting Council were thus circumvented and the parliamentary majority obtained a possibility to have a direct influence on the operation of the public media.
Six years later, the ruling party uses the following schemes to achieve control over media:
- total political subordination of the state media, including content control;
- take-over by state-owned companies of private media, most notably the purchase by PKN Orlen, a giant oil company, of Polska Press – owner of several regional dailies and local news sites;
- a clientelist relationship with a number of right-wing media outlets, via sponsorships of different events and streamlining of the money for commercials.
However, political domination is not the only problem in the context of free speech in Poland. The emergence of strong social media has caused problems for traditional audiovisual and print media. The subscription model is no longer able to provide sustainable and long-term financing to most important media players. To put it shortly, Polish independent media have to deal with the same diseases as those experienced by traditional media in other parts of the world.
As a result of this process, the space for independent media is shrinking, and any public discourse is blurred due to the position of state-loyal media. This puts under question the fairness of the parliamentary elections due to happen in 2023. Most probably, media that are subordinated or loyal to the government would support ruling party candidates and programmatic issues.
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The European Union is well aware of these problems. It is one of the reasons why media freedom is included as one of chapters in the Annual Rule of Law Report, prepared by Commissioner Didier Reynders. And the European Union is moving forward with some new proposals to address the issues.
Recently, the European Commission proposed the adoption of a SLAPP Directive, aiming to protect independent journalists and human rights’ defenders from becoming victims of abusive litigation. Such litigation, often referred to as Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPP), have become more and more common. The adoption of the directive should be promoted among states, as journalists and human right’s defenders cannot perform their work if they are subject to frivolous or unjustified legal claims from politicians or corporations.
In September 2022 the European Commission also proposed the adoption of a European Media Freedom Act. The proposal includes a lot of interesting ideas on how to increase the protection of journalists and their editorial independence and coordinate different efforts aimed at ensuring media freedom. One of the most interesting proposals of the Act is the creation of the European Board for Media Services, composed of national media authorities, with a right to issue opinions regarding media concentrations, and a requirement for Member states to check their own situation regarding media pluralism and editorial independence.
It is a long way to go from adoption of the proposal to the adoption of the final act. One may predict that some Member States might not be enthusiastic about this proposal. One may also wonder how the solutions proposed in the Act are going to be implemented. The EU has limited decision-making powers with regard to media concentrations in local markets. It is necessary to have the assistance of national regulators, who are not always in a situation of real independence. Nevertheless, in a longer perspective, there is a chance that the Media Freedom Act will make it more difficult for state media to play a strong political role.
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However, in the short-term perspective, one should look for ways to support independent voices and to avoid media deserts in Europe, not only in Poland or Hungary. According to a study by Victor Pickard of the University of Pennsylvania, large parts of the United States are not reported by any local news agencies and traditional journalism is undergoing a serious crisis. Independent local newspapers have gone bankrupt. Simply, readership is becoming smaller and costs of true journalism are getting higher. The existence of strong models based on subscription (such as the New York Times) is not resolving the problems of local media. The situation could deprive local populations of their citizenship participation.
I guess that similar processes may happen in Europe. The European Commission should thus commission a comprehensive study on how access to independent information looks in different EU Member States and at the regional or local level. If my assumption is confirmed, the EU should provide support to development of independent media at the local level.
This support should not be just symbolic and should not just cover support relating directly to freedom of speech causes. Direct financial support to independent media should be treated as contribution to the social fabric, in the same way as building new highways or infrastructure. In practice, the EU should consider the establishment of a social investment fund that would act as an independent minority shareholder in some media. Here, a good example could be the successful story of the European Endowment for Democracy.
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According to the recent Reporters Without Borders index of media freedom, the situation of media freedom in EU Member States is worrisome. Not only Poland and Hungary, but also Romania, Bulgaria, Italy, Slovenia, Malta and Cyprus occupy positions below the first 50 in the world. Such standards cannot be accepted in a supranational organization that so strongly adheres to values of democracy and human rights. The Von der Leyen Commission has undertaken important steps in the direction of increasing EU involvement in securing media pluralism. This way of thinking should be continued, but more brave and short-term actions are also required to secure pluralism of media.
Adam Bodnar