Some media in Poland have 'too much control', reform needed: culture minister

The ruling conservative Law and Justice party has pledged to change the private media sector.

Law and Justice has said the sector is concentrated in the hands of just a few owners, which limits plurality.

But media expert Wiesław Godzic, a professor at Warsaw's University of Social Sciences and Humanities, said the reform was an attack on freedom of speech, according to the wirtualnemedia.pl website.

Culture Minister Piotr Gliński said "order" needed to be brought to the media market, adding that “all civilised countries” have laws about the market share a company can have, “sometimes very strict ones, like in France or Germany”.

In Poland, a single company is allowed a 40-percent share of the market, while in France it is seven or eight percent, Gliński said.

He added that he did not expect the new rules to be “very radical”.

In late July, Law and Justice leader Jarosław Kaczyński told a Catholic television station that the media would be reformed soon.

The deputy culture minister later said a bill would be announced in early autumn.

The Gazeta Wyborcza daily has reported that, under the reform, the share of foreign capital in Poland's media sector would be capped at 20 percent. (vb/pk)

Source: PAP