WARSAW (Reuters) – Several private TV and radio stations and web portals in Poland took themselves off the air on Wednesday in protest against a proposed media advertising tax they say threatens the industry’s independence and its diversity of views.
In place of their usual shows, the outlets ran written or spoken running slogans like “This used to be your favourite programme” and “Media without choice”.
The self-imposed 24-hour silence came a day after many publishing groups addressed an open letter to authorities to object to the planned tax, which the government says will help raise funds for healthcare and culture, both hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic.
The letter said the tax would mean “weakening, and even eliminating some media in Poland” and deepening inequalities between private outlets and public ones, which the signatories said were heavily supported by the government.
TV broadcasters Polsat and TVN, radio station Radio Zet and web portals Onet and Interia were among outlets that halted coverage on Wednesday.
“Dear user! We are taking a step today that we never wanted to take because it goes against all of our journalistic values,” Onet wrote on its home page.
Bartosz Weglarczyk, editor-in-chief of Onet, told Reuters the outlet could be paying 10-20 million zlotys ($2.7-5.4 million) extra a year due to the new tax, according to its calculations.
In stark contrast to the slogans of these private outlets, public broadcaster TVP Info – which did not go off-air – ran news tickers including “Media companies don’t want to share their multi-million profits with Poles”.
The government says the tax will benefit the whole population, and that other European countries have similar levies.
Government spokesman Piotr Muller told TVP Info that the tax could amount to anywhere between 2% and 15% of advertising income, depending on the size of the company.
The issue of media independence was brought into sharp focus in December when state-controlled oil refiner PKN Orlen said it was buying German-owned newspaper publisher Polska Press. The ruling nationalists said this would decrease harmful foreign influence but critics said it was aimed at increasing government control of the media.
($1 = 3.6985 zlotys)
(Reporting by Joanna Plucinska, Pawel Florkiewicz and Alan Charlish: Editing by Nick Macfie and Pravin Char)
