A Map of Political Discourse Regarding Polish Public Service Media

The chapter gives an overview of the public debate over the role and purpose of the public service media in Poland. The chapter maps the most representative viewpoints and opinions given by political elites, media professionals and academic experts. It draws mainly on the parliamentary debate on public service media legislation that took place at the end of 2015 after the arrival of Law and Justice party (PiS) on the Polish political scene. The public service broadcaster proved to be the crucial element of the new administration whose plans envisaged turning it into ‘national media’, with the sole purpose of serving the government’s agenda for ‘good change.’ Faced with the legislative machinations around the Constitutional Tribunal, as well as public service media, the EU launched the rule of law mechanism against Poland. This chapter explains the context of the debate over the media as well as its outcomes. It argues that alternatives to the government’s proposal of ‘national media’ in the form of citizen broadcasting, although stoutly promoted by the opposition, have never materialised in post-communist Poland.