Interrupted broadcast of programs, police in the corridors of Polish Television, thugs entering cabinets, attacking secretaries and MPs – these are images resembling the worst times of our history.
The most critical assessment of the activities of the public media so far does not justify circumventing the law and utilizing force to accomplish its objectives. Declared repair of public media must not go beyond the applicable legal order. In a democratic state, the law sets limits within which the government can take its action, no substance how strong the temptation to accomplish political goals is by shortcut. The end cannot justify the means.
Public media in Poland has always been the spoil of political winners. There is no uncertainty that they require a thorough repair. possibly this is the time to legally heal the full public media system, so that the next electoral change of power does not lead to their subsequent acquisition. We remind all the ruling – former, present and future – that the violation of media independency always ends in the political failure of rapists. Let this teaching from the empire sober your head with the excitement of fighting. It is in the interests of all political parties to give public media to the public.
We call on journalists and public media, and all others, not to engage in political warfare. Our obligations towards fellow citizens are defined by another books, among which the Code of Journalism is the most important.
Zbigniew Rytel,
President
