President signs new media law

President Andrzej Duda has signed an amendment to the media law following its adoption by the Sejm and against some controversy, his chancellery informed. "The President cares that the public media is impartial, objective and trustworthy," said Małgorzata Sadurska, the chief of the presidential chancellery, at a briefing According to the new law, the head of Polish public radio and television will be dismissed and replaced by three-member boards "appointed and dismissed by the Minister of the Treasury." The new board will be under the control of the treasury "until the introduction of new national media organisations," the bill specifies. PiS wants to "bring back public media to the Poles," said PiS MP Elzbieta Kruk during the debate at the Sejm. The law has raised concern with the European Commission leader over the freedom of media in Poland, and the Council of Europe called on the President not to sign the new bill.