Media: A poor reception

International news channel EuroNews requested a meeting with the chairman of state-television TVP last week to discuss the introduction of a Polish-language version of the news service but was refused, EuroNews Chairman and CEO Philippe Cayla revealed. He added that of all the countries he had visited, from Morocco to Russia, Poland was the only one to decline him a meeting outright.

Speaking with WBJ last week Cayla said, "I am here to convince Poland as a whole that it should join EuroNews ... For Poland, it is a pity not to be a member of EuroNews and not to have Polish as a language on the service, I tried to get a meeting with the chairman of TVP but I could not get one because unfortunately TVP doesn't show too much interest in the venture. I think the problem is to convince TVP that it is a good thing, that it is a good choice."

EuroNews cannot turn to a private station to run its service because it is a spinoff of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the largest association of national broadcasters in the world. EBU has 75 active members from 56 countries, as well as an additional 45 associate members.

Cayla explained that if Poland joined EuroNews, the service would be offered in Polish worldwide and TVP would provide a member of the management team to oversee the editorial content of the channel.

"EuroNews is already the number-one international news channel in Europe, ahead of CNN and BBC ... A good international news channel in Polish, with good coverage, would lead to a better understanding of Europe and [its bordering] countries," said Cayla.

TVP claimed it had not had time to meet with Cayla.