Tusk Confronts Poland’s Hostile Media Machine After Election Win
The next government faces a tough task unpicking the nationalist ruling party’s power grab. The first step is to rebuild the national broadcaster.
A construction site outside the Telewizja Polska SA offices in central Warsaw, Poland.
Photographer: Damian Lemański/BloombergIt took Poland’s national broadcaster almost 24 hours to suggest that the opposition might form a government after last weekend’s election. When it did, the banner headline on its news channel was still that the ruling party had won.
The admission came after the most caustic campaign in decades, yet the time it took was of little surprise in a country whose state media has been turned into the mouthpiece of the nationalist Law & Justice party. In the runup to Sunday’s vote, the primetime news show ran headlines declaring the opposition would take away money from Poles and leader Donald Tusk would destroy democracy.