The Polish government abruptly took the country's leading state television news channel off the air on Wednesday as the former governing party refused to accept defeat.
The former governing party sent legislators and other supporters to the public broadcasting headquarters to prevent the new management from taking over. The members of the ousted former government staged a sit-in inside a building in southern Warsaw.
Poland Public News Channel Abruptly Taken Off the Air
It houses the studios and offices of state television, including TVP Info, a news channel and website that served as a propaganda bullhorn for the right-wing Law and Justice Party during its eight years in power.
The protesters were led by the party's combative chairman, Jaroslaw Kacynski, and they tried to prevent the new, centrist administration of Prime Minister Donald Tusk from asserting control. They accused the new government of staging a "coup d'etat" by firing loyalists of Law and Justice, which lost a general election in October.
As Kaczynski and his supporters committed to defending democracy and blocking management change, technicians who supported the new government yanked TVP Info off the air and disabled its website. It featured appeals for resistance against Tusk's "illegal attack on public television" as per the New York Times.
The chaos highlighted the turbulence the new government faces as it struggles to assert its authority over a wide range of state bodies. These include the courts and others stacked with Law and Justice loyalists.
The fight over public television could indicate a long period of disruptive trench warfare between a new government trying to break Law and Justice's grip on those institutions and the party's holdover trying to prevent such efforts.
When the former ruling party first took power in 2016, it imposed its management on state television within days and met no resistance. On Wednesday, the evening news program on TVP was canceled and replaced by a promotional video for an upcoming series about World War II.
New Polish Government
Tusk's pro-European Union coalition took power from the Law and Justice Party last week. According to Reuters, critics have argued that the latter damaged judicial independence, soured European Union relations, and turned state-owned media into an outlet for propaganda.
The chaos at the public news channel's building came after the new government adopted a resolution to restore public media impartiality. It called on "all state authorities to immediately take action to restore constitutional order regarding citizens' access to reliable information and the functioning of public media.
During its rule, the Law and Justice Party allegedly cut corners and ignored some procedures to gain control of the media supervisory bodies and key appointments as it tightened its grip.
In a statement, Law and Justice Sen. Marek Pek said they were instructed to come to the TVP building. He said that they need to show their presence and that they are deeply against the lawless and brutal actions of the new government, according to Associated Press.
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