Polish media watchdog head dismissed amid allegations of wrongdoing
Members of the National Broadcasting Council (KRRiT) have dismissed Maciej Swirski from his position as KRRiT chairman amid allegations of misconduct in performing his duties, the KRRiT has announced.
The move follows a resolution adopted on Friday by the Sejm, lower house of Polish parliament, to bring Swirski before the State Tribunal, a constitutional body responsible for trying officials holding high office. The resolution suspended Swirski from his duties.
"Pursuant to Article 9, Section 1, in conjunction with Article 7, Section 2b of the Act of 29 December 1992 on Broadcasting, and guided by the concern to ensure the proper execution of the constitutional responsibilities of the National Broadcasting Council (KRRiT) threatened by the actions of the ruling coalition in the Sejm of the Republic of Poland, the Members of the Council have dismissed Maciej Swirski, by a statutory majority of four votes, from the position of Chairman of the KRRiT," reads a statement put on the KRRiT website on Monday.
Swirski was replaced by Agnieszka Glapiak, the KRRiT also said.
In May last year, 185 MPs from the ruling Civic Coalition (KO) submitted to the Sejm a preliminary motion to bring Swirski before the State Tribunal. They accused him of blocking some PLN 300 million (EUR 70.4 million) from the licence fee for public radio and television, the blocking of concessions for private broadcasters: TVN, TVN24, Radio Tok FM, Radio Zet and the failure to publish obligatory viewership statistics.
Swirski, a close ally of the former ruling party, the socially-conservative Law and Justice (PiS), has been criticised for disregarding public interest in overseeing Polish media under the present government of Donald Tusk.
Poland's Supreme Audit Office (NIK) said in June it had notified prosecutors of a potential crime committed by the KRRiT, after the millions from subscription fee revenues had been placed in a court deposit in the first half of 2024, rather than allocated to 19 public radio and television broadcasters.
When Swirski's political allies were in power in 2015-2023, KRRiT did not react when PiS basically turned public media into a platform for the party's propaganda, despite widespread criticism from a number of international organisations, such as the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), an agency of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe. (PAP)
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