The Constitution
of the Republic of Poland adopted by the Polish Parliament on April 6,
1997 secures the freedom of speech and the press:
ęThe
Republic of Poland shall ensure freedom of the press and other means of social
communication.ł (art. 14)
ęThe
freedom to express opinions, to acquire and to disseminate information shall be
ensured to everyone.ł (art. 54)
ęPreventive
censorship of the means of social communication and the licensing of the press
shall be forbidden. Statutes may require the receipt of a permit for the
operation of a radio or television station.ł (art. 54)
Media communication in Poland is regulated
mainly by three statutory acts
The
Press Law Act adopted by the Polish Parliament on January 26, 1984
(amended: 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991). Press law is applied not only to printed
press but also to every periodical publication which is published not less
seldom than once a year, including dailies, periodical, press agencies, radio,
television and movie channels. The press law confirms the freedom and pluralism
of the media, however, there are some marginal restrictions in the law:
i)
all periodicals and newspapers must
be registered at a local court and the registration form must contain: title of
the publication, address of the editorial office, personal data of the
editor-in-chief, the name and address of the publisher and frequency of
publication,
ii)
registration expires if the title
fails to appear within one year since the date of registration,
iii)
there are no limits for foreign
companies or individuals to own shares of domestic newspapers and magazines, but
the editor-in-chief should have Polish citizenship in principle,
iv)
the press law regulates the
protection of journalistic sources and grants news sources absolute protection,
except for the cases which involve national security and murder,
v)
a serious restriction of internal
freedom of the press is article 10 of the press law, which stipulates that a
journalist must obey and follow the general principles of his/her publisher,
vi)
according to the press law the
editors are obliged to publish the corrections of
untrue or inaccurate information.
The
Broadcasting Act adopted by the Polish Parliament on December 29, 1992
(amended: 1995, 2000, 2001). Provisions of the Press Law Act should be applied
to broadcasting unless otherwise regulated by the Broadcasting Act. Hence,
public broadcasting organizations and holders of licences are entitled to
broadcast radio and television programme services.
The
National Radio and Television Broadcasting Council (KRRiT) has been established
to ęprotect the freedom of speech in
broadcasting, the independence of broadcasters and the interests of receivers,
and to safeguard the open and pluralistic nature of the broadcasting systemł
(art. 6).
'Programming
items or other messages may not encourage activities contrary to lawł (art.
18) and ęshall respect the religious beliefs of the public and especially the
Christian system of valuesł (art. 18)
ęLicences
may be granted to Polish citizens resident in Poland or legal persons with a
seat in Polandł (art. 35). ęCompanies which have foreign shareholders may be granted a
licence if foreigners do not hold more than 33 per cent of the opening capital
or stock of the companył (art. 35). Under the Broadcasting Act newspaper or
periodical publishers may not be granted radio or TV broadcasting licences if
this would create local monopolies (ęa dominant position in mass
communications in the given areał).
Publishers
must register as enterprises. The registers are available to general public and
contain descriptions of the legal status of shareholders, members of the board,
and annual statements. This information must be updated regularly on pain of
legal penalty.
Polish
Broadcasting Act and Polish advertising law is conformed to European Convention
on Transfrontier Television (May 5, 1989)
Law
on Copyrights and Neighbouring Rights adopted on February 4, 1994 (amended June
9, 2000) is harmonized with the
International Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works and
Universal Copyright Convention. Legal protection of works is decided upon their
artistic value, which is the most important criterion according to the above
conventions. Law on advertising and neighbouring rights is harmonized with
European Convention on Transfrontier Television.
Many
projects of updating the existing media law (the Press Law, the Broadcasting
Act) are being debated in the Polish parliament for some years. The proposed
amendments, if adopted, may lead to the introduction of a new law on media
concentration, on the one hand, and to an increase in current limits imposed on
foreign companies to hold shares of domestic broadcasting stations, on the
other. From the beginning of the year 2000, the Press Freedom Monitoring Center
attempts to undertake a project aiming at drafting the Freedom of Information
Act.