Political leaders call for changes to selection of public media managers

Leaders of the Freedom Union (UW) and Law and Justice (PiS) have spoken out against the way the management of the public media is chosen. They claim that senior personnel should not be appointed by the government, but through open competition. To illustrate his point, Lech Kaczynski, the former Justice Minister and a PiS leader, accused public station TVP of political bias and of using its power to defame and eliminate political opponents. He also demanded that everyone should be given the choice as to which TV and radio stations they could subscribe to. Supporting Kaczynski’s view, UW leader Bronislaw Geremek said, “We want public television to stand up to commercialization and to confront the danger of political bias.” (Rzeczpospolita, p. A4; Gazeta Wyborcza, p. 4) A.K.