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Media Landscape - Poland

INTRODUCTION

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Poland, situated in Central Europe, has a population of 38.5 million. Administratively the country is divided into 16 provinces called województwa. Poland is ethnically and religiously homogenous (Poles - 96.7 per cent, Roman Catholics - 89.8 per cent).

The Polish media landscape is a product of the country’s political and economic transition resulting from the fall of communism in 1989. The main post-communist media developments include: privatization of the press sector, transformation of the state radio and television into public broadcasting organizations, licensing of the private broadcasters, influx of foreign capital on the Polish media market, and European integration of audiovisual media policies.


1. WRITTEN PRESS

Poland has more than 5,400 press titles including national and regional dailies (167), weeklies (827), monthly magazines (2,401), and specialized press. The 2006 data on the readership rates show that 90 per cent of Poles read the written press, 78 per cent declare reading dailies, 68 per cent - weeklies, and 41 per cent - monthly magazines. Recent statistics show a gradual decline in sales of national dailies (except Gazeta Wyborcza), regional dailies, and opinion weeklies.

Press market is dominated by foreign, mostly German owners such as H. Bauer (operating in Poland as Wydawnictwo H. Bauer LTD.), Verlagsgruppe Passau (Polskapresse), and Axel Springer (Axel Springer Polska LTD.) Another important foreign publisher is Norwegian Orkla Press (Presspublica). The only big domestic competitor is Agora S.A.

Gazeta Wyborcza, launched in 1989 and owned by Agora S.A., was the first totally independent newspaper in post-communist Poland. Gazeta Wyborcza had been the top Polish national daily with the highest circulations for over a decade until Fakt, owned by Axel Springer, recently took the lead.

There is an increased specialization of the magazine sector, yet the dominance of women and opinion magazines is continuing.


2. AUDIOVISUAL MEDIA

Following the fall of communism, the Polish audiovisual media sector has grown rapidly and led to the establishment of a public and private duopoly. There are 74 television channels and 235 radio stations in Poland.

The public broadcaster Telewizja Polska (TVP) S.A. - owned by the State Treasury - continues to dominate the market in terms of audience and advertising shares. There is a competition between two main commercial channels, which are Polsat with an audience share of 15.9 per cent and multi-regional TVN with 15.1 per cent. Other private terrestrial TV channels in Poland include two Roman Catholic channels: TV Trwam and TV Puls, and seven local channels. The audience share of each of these channels does not exceed 1 per cent.

The Polish public radio broadcaster - Polskie Radio (PR) S.A. owned by the State Treasury operates five national radio stations. It also runs 17 regional radio stations and Radio Polonia - targeting Poles abroad. Private radio include two leader nation-wide stations, Catholic radio station, three over-regional stations, and numerous local networks

Poland is the third biggest cable television market in Europe with approximately 4.5 million subscribers (Open Society Institute, 2005). The cable market is dominated by six operators with significant foreign capital.


3. DIGITAL MEDIA

There are two digital television satellite platforms. The government adopted a strategy for the transition from analogue to digital broadcasting via ‘digital islands’ until the complete analogue switch-off in 2014.

Launch of digital TV broadcasting will start in Warsaw (multiplex 1) and in five towns of Wielkopolska province (multiplex 2). The available frequencies will be allotted to applicant multiplex operators in a tender organized by the Office for Electronic Communication (UKE). The National Broadcasting Council (KRRiT) will grant licenses to TV channels to broadcast within the multiplexes.


4. NEWS AGENCIES

The major news agency is the public Polish Press Agency (PAP) owned by the State Treasury. The Catholic Information Agency (KAI), set up by the Polish Episcopate, specialises in gathering information for the Catholic press. There are also several smaller private information service providers.


5. ONLINE MEDIA

The percentage of households with Internet access in Poland came to 30 per cent in 2005 comparing to 26 per cent in 2004.

Despite the growth in the percentage of households with Internet access, disproportions among different sectors of society persist. The majority of Polish households still use analogue modems. The most popular online media are Gazeta – online equivalent of top Polish daily and services by two commercial nation-wide radio stations.


6. MEDIA ORGANIZATIONS

There are two major national journalist associations in Poland: the Polish Journalists Association (SDP) and the Journalists’ Association of the Republic of Poland (SDRP), which run their regional offices in major Polish cities.

There are several other associations of publishers, audiovisual producers, Internet and digital telephony providers, and advertisers.


7. MEDIA POLICIES

The Polish Constitution guarantees freedom of the press and prohibits both preventive censorship and licensing of the press. It also proclaims that the main task of the National Broadcasting Council (KRRiT) is to safeguard the freedom of speech, the right to information, and the public interest in radio and television.

The 1984 Press Law applies to dailies, periodicals, press agencies, radio and television. The 1992 Broadcasting Act regulates the whole broadcasting sector. It determines the mode of appointment, responsibilities and competences of the KRRiT, general tasks of broadcasters, status of public broadcaster, licensing of commercial broadcasters, retransmission of programme services in cable and satellite networks, and programming obligations.

The Act was amended in 2004 in order to comply with the EU audiovisual policy requirements and the Television without Frontiers (TWF) Directive. The National Broadcasting Council is the main broadcasting regulator.


8. ACCOUNTABILITY SYSTEMS

The National Broadcasting Council regulates the content of public and commercial broadcasting related to protection of minors, harmful content, advertising restrictions, etc. Additionally, the public broadcasters, the two national journalist associations and the main publisher association also formulated their codes of ethics.

In 1995 Polish media owners and professionals adopted the Media Charter and established the Conference of Media, which in turn appoints the Council of Media Ethics. The Council provides advice on an ethical media performance


9. RECENT DEVELOPMENTS AND FUTURE TRENDS

The 2005 parliamentary elections were won by the right wing Law and Justice party and the 2005 presidential elections were won by Lech Kaczyński of the same party. The first issue on the new right government’s agenda was the reform of the KRRiT’s mode of appointment. In December 2005, together with its coalition partners the nationalist/catholic League of Polish Families and the populist Self-Defence, the Law and Justice party voted for adoption of the Act on Transformations and Modifications to the Division of Tasks and Powers of State Bodies Competent for Communications and Broadcasting. The act has reduced the number of members of KRRiT from nine to five; two of them were to be appointed by the Sejm, one - by the Senat and two - by the President.

The chairman was to be nominated and dismissed by the President. The new mode of appointment was strongly criticized by the opposition parties: the centre Citizens Platform and the Democratic Left Alliance, which claimed that the real motivation behind the amendment was control of the new KRRiT by the Law and Justice and its coalition partners.

The opposition also claimed that political motive behind the haste with which the new law was adopted was dismissal of the incumbent Council and the appointment of the new Council by January 2006, when the Supervisory Councils of public radio and TV were to be nominated. In March 2006 the Constitutional Tribunal pronounced the new law to be unconstitutional on the following points: President’s right to nominate and dismiss the KRRiT’s chairman and the KRRiT’s responsibility to control observance of journalistic ethics. In April the act was amended again according to the Tribunal’s ruling.

The broadcasting legislation in Poland needs to be updated in order to catch up with the ongoing technological and market changes. Although Poland has already adopted provisional strategy for the digital switchover, the issues of compression standards, must-carry programming, licensing, and state financial involvement are not legally resolved. With regards to the Internet, there is essentially no legal framework to regulate online media.

The legislation is also lacking when it comes to regulating ownership concentration. Legislative works on the issue were to a huge extent discontinued post to the Rywingate scandal. When it comes to PBS, existing legal provisions relating to its status, management and mode of financing have become obsolete. The Ministry of Culture and National Heritage –responsible for audiovisual policy and the Ministry of Transport – responsible for telecommunications are working on drafting these relevant amendments.

Polish media have been moving away from universal content to more targeted content as a response to growing audience fragmentation. There is a growing number of specialist press titles launched every year. In case of broadcast media, the shift has been lengthier. Apart from universal channels available via terrestrial transmission, the two main commercial broadcasters: Polsat and TVN have launched thematic channels dedicated to sport, news, health, style, etc. available via cable and digital satellite platforms.

Both plan to launch more thematic channels as a part of their transition strategy from analogue to digital broadcasting. Public broadcaster has also been preparing to enrich their programming offer trough launching of few thematic channels.

With regards to the European integration of audiovisual media policies, Poland has submitted its position on the issue of revision of the TWF Directive to the European Commission and participates in debates on the topic. The Poland’s position paper emphasized the issues of: material and territorial competence of the directive, the promotion of European and independent audiovisual production, regulations regarding advertising, and protection of minors.


10. REFERENCES

  • National Broadcasting Council (KRRiT) http://www.krrit.gov.pl/
  • Office of Electronic Communication (UKE) http://www.uke.gov.pl/
  • Press Research Centre of the Jagiellonian University (OBP UJ) http://www.obp.pl/
  • Zeszyty Prasoznawcze published by the OBP UJ
  • Open Society Institute. Television across Europe: Regulation, Policy, and Independence, Country Report on Poland, Vol. 2, 2005.


11. AUTHOR

Ania Lara (), MSc student in Media and Communications, the London School of Economics and Political Science (UK).


12. MEDIA RESOURCES

Newspapers

Audio/Visual Media

Media Institutions

Blogs/Civil Media

Excerpt from EUROPEAN MEDIA GOVERNANCE: THE NATIONAL AND REGIONAL DIMENSIONS, published by Intellect (http://www.intellectbooks.com).

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