Poland’s president signs disputed media law

Concern for media freedom in Poland has heightened among EU leaders and independent journalists, after the president signed a temporary new law that is a step toward giving the government full control of state radio and television.

The legislation will take effect one day after it is published, which should be within days, and will expire on June 30.

By then, a sweeping new law to overhaul the state-run broadcasters, and the PAP news agency, is expected to be in place.

President Andrzej Duda signed the new legislation because he wants state media to be “impartial, objective, and reliable,” his aide, Malgorzata Sadurska, said.

The president believes that the private views of journalists interfere with the objectivity of information in state media.

The new law will end the terms of the heads of state radio and television, and will transfer the authority to appoint successors to the treasury minister, from a separate radio and TV committee that oversees the media.

It also limits the number of members sitting on the state broadcasters’ supervisory and management boards.

The new, conservative ruling party has embarked on sweeping state and social reforms.