This week, we joined our Media Freedom Rapid Response coalition partners for a mission to Poland. Our goal was to assess progress of much-needed reforms to rebuild press freedom following elections in October 2023. The record turnout at the polls brought an end to the government led by the Law and Justice Party and 8 years of sustained attacks on the media and freedom of expression.
In Warsaw, following up on our September 2023 mission held a month before the elections, we evaluated the actions the new government is taking to restore media freedom and promote freedom of expression in Poland. Given the many years we’ve advocated for greater freedoms in the country, this represents a new chapter and new opportunities for change. We met with media organisations, journalists, media experts, regulators, as well as relevant authorities, including Poland’s Minister of Justice, Adam Bodnar.
We spoke to them about implementing the European Media Freedom Act (EMF) and the Anti-SLAPP directive to tackle strategic lawsuits against public participation, and about the importance of upholding media freedom in line with European and international freedom of expression standards. These conversations allowed us to collect valuable information and insights that we will feed into our forthcoming report. We look forward to sharing our findings, the report and next steps soon – stay tuned!
We also look forward to supporting reforms in Poland, and, together with our partners across civil society, in lending our expertise to ensure greater protections for freedom of expression and human rights.
Thanks to our mission partners: The International Press Institute, the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom, Free Press Unlimited, and the European Federation of Journalists.
