Telewizja Polska

Telewizja Polska S.A. (TVP, or Polish Television) is a Polish state media corporation.[1][2][3] It is the largest Polish television network,[4] although viewership has been declining since at least 2010.[5] About a third of TVP's income comes from a broadcast receiver licence, while the rest is covered by government subsidies, commercials and sponsorships.

TVP
Telewizja Polska S.A.
CountryPoland
Broadcast areaPoland
Lithuania
Czech Republic
Slovakia
Germany
Belarus
Russia (Kaliningrad only)
Sweden
Denmark (Bornholm only)
Ukraine
SloganBądźmy razem
(Let's be together)
Headquarters17 Woronicza Street
Warsaw, Poland
Ownership
OwnerGovernment of Poland
History
Launched25 October 1952 (1952-10-25)
Links
Websitetvp.pl

According to the 1992 broadcasting law, it is required to cover the news with objectivity and impartiality. However, since 2015, TVP has been widely described as providing one-sided favorable coverage of the ruling Law and Justice party, and compared with propaganda of the former Communist regime.[6][7][8] TVP has also faced criticism for its portrayal of LGBT people, the political opposition, Jews, and other groups as a shadowy conspiracy seeking to undermine Poland.[9][10]

Timeline of Polish TV service
TVP headquarters at 17 Jan Paweł Woronicz Street (ul. Jana Pawła Woronicza), Warsaw, Poland[11]
  • 1935: The PIT (Państwowy Instytut Telekomunikacyjny - National Telecommunications Institute) starts working together with Polish Radio on establishing the first television service.
  • 1937: Completion of the first black-and-white broadcasting station.
  • 1938: Experimental channel launched, regular programming scheduled for 1941.
  • 1939: All equipment destroyed by the German Army.
  • 1947: PIT resumes work on television broadcasting.
  • 1951: First Polish telecast after the Second World War.
  • 1952: Beginning of regular programming.
  • 1957: Broadcast of the first sports event; a boxing match Skra Warszawa – Gwardia Łódź[12]
  • 1958: Newscast Dziennik Telewizyjny ("Journal") was founded.
  • 1970: TVP2 was founded.
  • 1971: Start of colour broadcasting (in SECAM).
  • 1989: Introduction of a teletext service.
  • 1989: Dziennik Telewizyjny was replaced by Wiadomości ("News").
  • 1992: Telewizja Polska Spółka Akcyjna comes into existence upon the separation of television and radio public broadcasting by an act of parliament.
  • 1992: TVP Polonia starts test transmissions.
  • 1993: Polskie Radio i Telewizja (Polish Radio and Television) joins the European Broadcasting Union as an active member (regrouping of OIRT and UER).
  • 1994: Beginning of the change over from SECAM to PAL for all channels except TVP1.
  • 1995: Change over from SECAM to PAL was completed as TVP1 moved to this colour standard.
  • 2003: Change of TVP logotype.
  • 2009: New main headquarters building opened in Warsaw.
  • 2013: Analogue terrestrial television was switched-off

TVP channels

Bolded channels are accessible in Poland via DVB-T. TVP HD and TVP Seriale are pay television. TVP Polonia, TVP Info and TVP Historia are also available on DVB-T in Lithuania.

General and regional channels
Audience share in 2013[13]
ChannelTotal viewing (%)
TVP113.17%
TVP210.30%
TVP Info2.61%
TVP Seriale1.14%
TVP Polonia0.68%
TVP Rozrywka0.48%
TVP Historia0.45%
TVP Kultura0.41%
TVP HD0.37%
TVP30.36%
TVP40.00%
TVP60.00%
TVP Sport0.29%
Belsat0.29%
TVP Parlament0.09%
Poland In0.01%
Total30.26%

HD channels
  • TVP1 HD: HD version of TVP1, introduced 1 June 2012;
  • TVP2 HD: HD version of TVP2, introduced 1 June 2012;
  • TVP Info HD: HD version of TVP Info, introduced 30 September 2016;
  • TVP HD: the best productions of TVP in HD, introduced 6 August 2008;
  • TVP Sport HD: HD version of TVP Sport, introduced 12 January 2014.
  • TVP Kultura HD: HD version of TVP Kultura, introduced 23 October 2019.

Specialty channels
  • TVP Dokument: documentary movies channel.[14]
  • TVP Info: news channel. Broadcasts 24 hours per day.
  • TVP Historia: focusing on history. Broadcasts 20 hours per day.
  • TVP Kultura: high-brow culture channel. Broadcasts 21 hours per day.
  • TVP Rozrywka: focusing on entertainment available on cable, satellite and DSL. Broadcasts 21 hours per day.
  • TVP Seriale: focusing on series. Broadcasts 22 hours per day.
  • TVP Sport: sport channel. Broadcasts 24 hours per day.
  • TVP ABC: Children's channel. Broadcasts 18 hours per day.
  • TVP Parlament: parliamentary channel. Broadcasts online.
  • TVP Eszkoła: education channel. Broadcasts online and 4 hours per day.

International channels
  • TVP Polonia – retransmits selected TVP programming for the Polish diaspora (the so-called Polonia) in the US, Canada, Latin America, Australia and New Zealand, South Africa, Europe, and the Caucasus. Broadcasts 24 hours per day.
  • Belsat TV – channel in the Belarusian language presenting news and subject-specific programming for the people of western Belarus. Broadcasts 16 hours per day.
  • TVP Wilno – channel presenting news and programming for the Polish diaspora in the Vilnius region of Lithuania, available in DVB-T in this country.

Post-2015 changes

In 2015, the government passed a law allowing it to directly appoint the head of TVP.[15] Since then, TVP has displayed bias towards the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party, described as propaganda by critics.[8] In 2018, The Economist stated: "the [TVP] anchors... praise PiS slavishly while branding its critics treacherous crypto-communists.[16]

The press freedom organisation Reporters Without Borders wrote in its 2019 assessment of Polish press freedom that "many blamed state-owned TV broadcaster TVP’s 'hate propaganda' for Gdansk mayor Pawel Adamowicz's murder in January 2019."[17] Ahead of the 2019 European parliament elections, TVP ran 105 segments of the election of which 68 of 69 focused on the ruling party were positive and all 33 about the opposition were negative, according to a study by the Society of Journalists.[7] Polish political scientist and anti-racism activist Rafał Pankowski stated, "I am old enough to remember Communist-controlled television in the 1980s, and I can safely say that what we have now is cruder, more primitive, and more aggressive than anything that was broadcast at that time."[7]

TVP was heavily criticised in the run-up to the 2020 Polish presidential election, being described as the "mouthpiece" of the government[18] and as "peddl[ing] government hate speech" by the organisation Reporters Without Borders.[19]

In 2020, the station was ordered to retract a documentary, Inwazja, released just before the 2019 elections. Comparing the LGBT movement unfavorably to the Swedish Deluge and Communism, the documentary claimed that there is an "LGBT invasion" of Poland and that LGBT organizations have the goal of legalizing pedophilia. It was found to defame the Campaign Against Homophobia organization. Ombudsman Adam Bodnar stated, "The material not only reproduces stereotypes and heightens social hatred towards LGBT people, but also manipulates facts."[20][21][7][22]

During the 2020 presidential campaign, the state television broadcast a segment of Wiadomości called Trzaskowski spełni żydowskie żądania? ("Will Trzaskowski meet Jewish demands?") regarding the Civic Platform candidate Rafał Trzaskowski. A complaint was made by the American Jewish Committee, Union of Jewish Religious Communities, the Chief Rabbi of Poland, to the Polish Media Ethics Council regarding antisemitism in the program. The Council concluded not only were antisemitic statements made in the show, it did not uphold journalistic standards: Wiadomości "turned into an instrument of propaganda of one of the candidates in this election".[23][24][25][26][27][28]

According to Timothy Garton Ash, "the broadcaster has descended into the paranoid world of the far right, where spotless, heroic, perpetually misunderstood Poles are being conspired against by dark, international German-Jewish-LGBT-plutocratic forces meeting secretly in Swiss chateaux."[9]

TVP president Jacek Kurski rejected the contention that the organization violated broadcasting law.[29][30] and conservative media commentator and former TVP employee Jacek Karnowski says the station "deserves recognition" for its "consistent promotion of patriotism and pro-state thinking".[31][32]

International cooperation

In 2015, TVP had an agreement with the BBC, under which they will work together on film and television productions.[33]

The French-German TV liberal arts network ARTE cancelled a 15-year cooperation with TVP,[34] when it learned in February 2009 that TVP's general director, Piotr Farfał, was a member of the League of Polish Families, which opposed Arte’s "philosophy based on intercultural exchange"[35] and "the party that TVP's chairman is presently connected with does not share European values".[36] It was again cancelled in January 2016 after an amendment of the media law in Poland, which caused fears of a lack of pluralism and independence of TVP.[37]

Viewership

In September 2020, TVP's "Wiadomości" was the most popular news program in Poland, with an average of 2.66 million viewers a day.[38]

Logo history
  • 1952–1992: white-red inscription TP.
  • 1992–2003: Green letter T, red V, blue P, and the word TELEWIZJA POLSKA S.A. and three stripes: red, green and blue. In addition to letters three lines.
  • 2003–present: TVP logo and lettering TELEWIZJA POLSKA.
  • 1952–1992
  • 1992–2003
  • 2003–present

See also

References
  1. "Poland's State Media Is Government's Biggest Booster Before Election". The New York Times.
  2. "Poland's media battle gets political". Politico.eu.
  3. "Polish government to 'repolonize' media in next term, deputy PM says". Reuters.
  4. "Nie ufamy mediom publicznym i częściej płacimy za treści". Press.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 2020-08-07.
  5. "W 2010 r. zyskała tylko TVN, duży spadek TVP 1" [In 2010, only TVN gained, TVP 1 decreased significantly] (in Polish). Wirtualnemedia.pl. 2 November 2010. Retrieved 19 December 2020.
  6. Połońska, Eva (2019). "Watchdog, Lapdog, or Attack Dog? Public Service Media and the Law and Justice Government in Poland". Public Service Broadcasting and Media Systems in Troubled European Democracies. Springer International Publishing. pp. 227–255. ISBN 978-3-030-02710-0.
  7. Davies, Christian (11 October 2019). "'Cruder than the Communists': Polish TV goes all out for rightwing vote". The Guardian. Retrieved 21 October 2020.
  8. Sources:
    • "A Leaderless Struggle for Democracy". Freedom House. Poland’s legislative elections laid bare the extent to which the ruling Law and Justice party had politically captured the state media, whose taxpayer-funded broadcasts leading up to the voting amounted to partisan propaganda.
    • Kalan, Dariusz (25 November 2019). "Poland's State of the Media". Foreign Policy. Retrieved 27 September 2020.
    • "Poland". RSF. Reporters without borders. Retrieved 27 September 2020. Partisan discourse and hate speech are still the rule within state-owned media, which have been transformed into government propaganda mouthpieces. Their new directors tolerate neither opposition nor neutrality from employees and fire those who refuse to comply.
    • Kortas, Olivia (11 March 2020). "Poland's TVP public television rift reveals PiS party split". Deutsche Welle. Retrieved 27 September 2020.
    • OSCE 2020 presidential election final report: "The public broadcaster (TVP) failed in its legal duty to provide impartial coverage, which could offset the editorial bias of the private media. Instead, TVP acted as a campaign vehicle for the incumbent."
    • Żuk 2020. "The election campaign before the next election won by PiS in October 2019 showed particularly clearly how public media became the property of the ruling party and practiced propaganda typical of authoritarian states instead of public debate."
    • Węglińska, Agnieszka (2020). "The Image of Germany in Social Media: Political and Social Aspects of Public Service Media in Poland". Central European Journal of Communication. 13 (25): 41–54. ISSN 1899-5101. Government control over TVP contributes to public service media being a tool for propaganda and politics...
    • Kalan, Dariusz (18 January 2021). "Poland's PiS-poor media". Balkan Insight. Retrieved 18 January 2021. Over the last few years, Poland’s public television broadcaster TVP and radio broadcasters have been put squarely under PiS control – and even insiders admit they have been transformed into hardline government mouthpieces. This unprecedented move has been condemned by various international organisations, including the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, Reporters Without Borders, and the Council of Europe, which called TVP “a propaganda channel for the ruling party”.
  9. Ash, Timothy Garton (10 July 2020). "Opinion: For a bitter taste of Polish populism, just watch the evening 'news'". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 27 September 2020.
  10. Żuk, Piotr (2020). "One Leader, One Party, One Truth: Public Television Under the Rule of the Populist Right in Poland in the Pre-Election Period in 2019". Javnost - The Public. 27 (3): 287–307. doi:10.1080/13183222.2020.1794413.
  11. "Redakcja tvp.pl" (in Polish). TVP S.A. Retrieved 2012-08-19.
  12. Sport w TVP - obrazki z wystawy
  13. "TVP1, TVN, Polsat i TVP2 mocno w dół w 2013 r. (top 122)". wirtualnemedia.pl. 2 January 2014.
  14. TVP Dokument wystartuje 19 listopada, satkurier, 6 October 2020
  15. "Poland profile - Media". BBC News. 21 January 2019. Retrieved 31 October 2020.
  16. "Poland's ruling Law and Justice party is doing lasting damage". The Economist. Retrieved 2018-04-27.
  17. "Poland". Reporters Without Borders.
  18. Santora, Marc; Berendt, Joanna (2019-10-11). "Poland's State Media Is Government's Biggest Booster Before Election". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-07-11.
  19. "Polish public broadcaster peddles government hate speech in presidential election run-up". Reporters Without Borders. 24 June 2020. Archived from the original on 1 July 2020.
  20. Bretan, Juliette (8 June 2020). "Court orders Polish state broadcaster TVP to take down online anti-LGBT film". Notes From Poland. Retrieved 21 October 2020.
  21. "KPH wygrywa w sądzie z TVP. Podatnicy dowiedzą się, ile kosztowała homofobiczna "Inwazja"". oko.press. Retrieved 21 October 2020.
  22. "TVP o Inwazji LGBT: "Potop", "gorsza niż najbardziej zagorzali komuniści", "czeka nas legalizacja pedofilii"". oko.press. Retrieved 21 October 2020.
  23. "Rada Etyki Mediów o "Wiadomościach": "To instrument propagandy"". www.kobieta.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 30 October 2020.
  24. "Polish state TV incited hatred against Jews, media ethics panel says". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. 19 June 2020. Retrieved 30 October 2020.
  25. Staff, Reuters (10 July 2020). "Jewish group slams Polish public TV for 'hateful' role in presidential race". Reuters. Retrieved 30 October 2020.
  26. "Leading presidential hopeful would 'satisfy Jewish claims' for Holocaust restitution, Polish state TV warns". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. 16 June 2020. Retrieved 30 October 2020.
  27. "Wyborcza.pl". Retrieved 30 October 2020.
  28. "Organizacje żydowskie złożyły skargę na "Wiadomości"". JEWISH.PL (in Polish). Retrieved 30 October 2020.
  29. "Prezes TVP: Staramy się robić telewizję rzetelną i spluralizowaną" [President of TVP: We try to make television reliable and plural] (in Polish). Interia. Retrieved 2020-12-20.
  30. "Sejmowa komisja o TVP. Kurski bronił rzetelności, ale posłanka Sobecka przebiła prezesa" [Sejm committee about TVP. Kurski defended integrity, but MP Sobecka defended more than the president] (in Polish). Gazeta.pl. Retrieved 2020-12-20.
  31. "Cztery lata prezesury Jacka Kurskiego w TVP. "Sprawny i kreatywny, razi jego gust i cynizm"". Wirtualnemedia.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 2020-12-19.
  32. "Cztery lata prezesury Jacka Kurskiego w TVP. "Telewizja publiczna na wielu polach odbudowała swoją przewagę"". Wpolityce.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 2020-12-20.
  33. "TVP stawia na współpracę z BBC. Nowe produkcje". Media2.pl. Retrieved 12 July 2015.
  34. arte.tv. Archived 2012-07-08 at Archive.today
  35. "Libertas to cut links with controversial Polish political party". The Irish Times. 19 March 2009. Retrieved 12 July 2015.
  36. Nick Holdsworth. "Dual peril for Poland's top pubcaster". Variety. Retrieved 12 July 2015.
  37. Francuska TV ARTE zrywa współpracę z TVP (in Polish)
  38. ""Wiadomości" liderem oglądalności we wrześniu". sdp.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 2020-12-22.
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