Despite new government, Poland remains politically polarized
Poland's right-wing government was voted out of office in 2023. But its changes to the freedom of the press and the independence of the judiciary are still being felt. The new government faces a difficult task.
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00:00 Dorota Bawołek is getting ready to return to Polish airwaves.
00:05 From here in Strasbourg, she's become the new face of Poland's public broadcaster in
00:10 the European Union - something unthinkable until last year.
00:14 I did everything I could to not let the politicians decide about my profession.
00:20 Dorota was fired from a private Polish channel in 2022, officially over Covid rule breaches,
00:27 but she's sure it was down to the media influence of Poland's former nationalist, Eurosceptic
00:32 government.
00:33 I felt the pressure from 2015 onwards.
00:36 It was growing.
00:37 It was always bigger when it was close to the elections.
00:42 Sometimes when the big things were happening in Brussels which were negative for Poland,
00:48 I was not asked to report on them.
00:53 After a pro-European, conservative-led coalition gained the numbers to govern last year, Dorota
00:59 was recruited to report for Poland's public service broadcaster TVP.
01:05 In Warsaw, there are more new kids on the block.
01:09 There's been a radical switch up at the channel once accused of being nothing more than a
01:13 populist government mouthpiece.
01:17 What changed?
01:18 Everything changed.
01:19 Most of all the people.
01:20 Our teams are new, plus the type of language we use has changed.
01:24 This means there is no hatred or the venom that has flowed from the screens over the
01:27 last eight years.
01:29 We changed it to simply pluralistic language, democratic language, the language of public
01:34 television.
01:36 But the change is controversial.
01:39 The station was occupied by nationalist protesters in December and temporarily went off air amid
01:44 the chaos.
01:46 Many staffers were suddenly sacked.
01:49 Among them Cezary Gimis, newly returned from Germany and out of a job.
01:54 I'm sad that I'm not in Berlin more.
01:58 For years Cezary was a TVP correspondent, breaking big stories.
02:03 He's been accused of favouring the previous government in his coverage, but after being
02:07 sacked he says he's the one who's the victim of a biased system.
02:13 This is the experience of every journalist in Poland with conservative views.
02:17 I never work in any media outlet for more than a few years because left-leaning liberal
02:22 circles put pressure on these media to deprive them of their voice.
02:29 As the media landscape shifts, even observers who back the new government's moves say it
02:34 stretched the limits of the law.
02:37 Maybe these activities of our government, I mean firing people out, was not pretty legal,
02:44 but it was necessary.
02:45 This new television, new public media, needs some time to find, to gather credibility.
02:52 Unpicking the legacy of Poland's recent past is also proving difficult for the new government
02:57 in other areas.
02:58 The EU sanctioned the last administration over alleged attempts to control Polish courts
03:03 through new laws.
03:04 Now, judges want systemic change to restore independence.
03:12 The last eight years have been very difficult because we have been fighting to ensure that
03:16 Poles have the right to go to court so that politicians do not dictate the content of
03:21 judges' rulings.
03:24 We want to build a modern European system, an anti-system that over several decades has
03:29 greatly strengthened the role of the Minister of Justice in Poland.
03:35 And that will take time in a Poland which remains politically polarised.
03:41 And outside Warsaw, there are fewer clashes to cover these days.
03:45 The general atmosphere around Poland in Brussels in Europe has changed to a much more positive
03:53 one.
03:54 When I report from Brussels, I don't have to explain so much why the EU decided to criticise
04:03 us, why we are punished.
04:05 But I have a new challenge, which is to present the real face of the European Union to the
04:13 Polish people.
04:14 EU elections are fast approaching and populist parties are expected to gain ground.
04:21 Dorota says she'll be here to cover every twist and turn.
04:25 [BLANK_AUDIO]