Saturday, December 18, 2021
US group Discovery affected
Poland upset the USA with a new media law
With a short-term change in the law, Poland is turning one of its closest allies against itself. The new regulation provides that non-European investors may participate in domestic media companies with a maximum of 49 percent. This is a problem for the US media group Discovery.
The Polish parliament passed a controversial media law unexpectedly quickly and thus turned the USA and the US media group Discovery against them. The MPs decided to put the law on the agenda at short notice, according to which non-European investors are allowed to hold a maximum of 49 percent in Polish media companies. Discovery operates the government-critical news channel TVN24 in Poland and is therefore particularly affected by the change in the law.
President Andrzej Duda announced that he would now decide whether to sign the law and thereby allow it to come into force. He had previously shown skepticism about the proposed law. The US Chargé d’Affaires in Warsaw, Bix Aliu, urged Duda to protect freedom of expression and freedom of economic activity. The US is extremely disappointed with the passage of the law. The USA is one of Poland’s closest allies in NATO, including in political conflicts with Russia, among others.
The Polish subsidiary of Discovery described the parliamentary decision as an “unprecedented attack on the free media”. She will defend her business in Poland. The US parent company said the move should alert any company investing in Poland. Opposition politicians criticized the short-term actions of the government coalition around the Law and Justice Party (PiS) as a violation of laws and democratic standards.
The proposed law has already met with criticism from the EU Commission in the past, which has repeatedly accused Poland of violating EU standards. The PiS, whose leaders are party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski and Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, had repeatedly defended the law as protection against influences from Russia and China.
PiS MP Joanna Lichocka stated that the legislative change that has now been passed is in conformity with EU law and corresponds to similar regulations in other European countries. The upper limit for the participation of non-European investors in the media in Poland has been in force for a long time. The change that has now been decided only closes loopholes with which the regulation can be circumvented. The US group Discovery does not hold its shares in the Polish broadcaster TVN24 directly, but through a subsidiary based in the Netherlands.