Media News - Monday, May 19, 2008

Polish President vetoes media reform bill

Polish President Lech Kaczynski has vetoed the bill on reforming public radio and television. He said it could lead to ‘the further commercialization of the important area if public media and to the curtailing of ordinary citizens’ influence on these media.’ Under the new bill, proposed by the government, the role of the National Broadcasting Council would be reduced. Its members are now appointed by both houses of parliament and the president for six-year terms. The new regulations would allow Council members to be recalled before the end of the their terms and would limit the powers of this regulatory body, transferring some of them to the Office of Electronic Communication, subordinate to the government. Prime Minister Donald Tusk said he was not surprised with the presidential veto. Talking to reporters in Lima, where he was attending the EU-Latin American summit, he said that the president’s decision is a defense of the dominant position of the opposition Law and Justice in the public media. Mr Tusk added he is not emotionally attached to the broadcasting bill. More important for him is the bill on abolishing license fees. The vetoed legislation now returns to parliament, in which a three-fifths majority is needed to override a presidential veto. (Polskie Radio via Media Network Weblog)

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