Perhaps this is quite a good idea and a proposal for those in power local media, regional, could easily function within the framework of the decentralization of the Polish state and simply be run by local governments – Karolczak said on Tuesday in Polish Radio Katowice.
A few days ago, PAP revealed that the authorities of Katowice and GZM – which brings together 41 cities and communes in the central part of the province. Silesia – in a letter to the Minister of Culture and National Heritage Bartłomiej Sienkiewicz expressed their willingness to buy Polish Radio Katowice in liquidation.
“Certainly, as local government officials (…) we are concerned about this whole discussion around public media and we look at what is happening with concern (…). We hope that there will be a happy ending (…) and the public media will survive this test – they will become (…) the real media of the residents,” Karolczak said on Radio Katowice.
He added that regional and local governments are interested in ensuring that there are media in their area reporting on what is happening in cities and the region, so that residents have good, reliable information. As he noted, some local governments have had their own radio stations for years and they are doing well.
“In this situation, when we have open liquidation Radio Katowice, a true regional radio with almost a hundred years of tradition, it seems that we, as local government officials, are interested in ensuring that this radio station survives this political turmoil. Perhaps it is quite a good idea and a proposal for those in power that these local and regional media could easily function within the decentralization of the Polish state and simply be run by bodies such as the provincial government, the city, the metropolis,” he said and added, that the proposal to purchase Radio Katowice is a voice in the discussion on the good functioning of public media – local, and perhaps also national.
When asked whether the communes associated with GZM would like to contribute to the maintenance of the radio, Karolczak admitted that representatives of the largest cities of the Union were currently involved in the talks on this subject, and that ultimately the GZM Assembly would have to express its opinion.
Chief of Metropolis he said that the issue of GZM having its own media has been going on for years, and in accordance with the Act on the metropolitan association in the province. In Silesia, one of the main tasks is to promote the heritage of the Metropolis and its potential. “To do it at what seems to be the highest level, such media – if we were the owner – would definitely help,” he said.
About purchase intention Radio Katowice The mayor of Katowice, Marcin Krupa, was asked the day before. He emphasized that it was about securing the future of the radio station. He declared that the Katowice local government and GZM are ready to take over and continue running Radio Katowice.
Liquidation of Radio Katowice
Ministry of Culture and National Heritage On January 8, it announced that the court had entered the opening of the liquidation of the Radio Katowice company in the National Register of Entrepreneurs. President Krupa and Chairman Karolczak referred to this decision in a letter to Minister Sienkiewicz.
Krupa and Karolczak expressed their belief in the need to preserve the radio station, which is important for the region’s community. As they recalled, it is one of the oldest radio stations in the country, is a source of information for many residents, as well as a place to promote regional culture, history and heritage, playing an important role in shaping local identity and cultivating the Silesian language.
“In connection with the above, taking into account the extremely important function played by Radio Katowice in our region and the interests of hundreds of thousands of listeners of this radio station, we would like to propose that the City of Katowice and the Upper Silesian-Zagłębie Metropolis purchase an entity under the name +Polskie Radio – Regionalna Rozwodnia in Katowice +Radio Katowice SA in liquidation+” – wrote the authors of the letter.
The position of the National Broadcasting Council
Members National Broadcasting Council, referring to the information about the offer to purchase Polish Radio Katowice, they stated that they were firmly against the “sale of the assets of Polish Radio and Television” because “they constitute a public good.”
On December 19, the Sejm adopted a resolution on the restoration of legal order and the impartiality and reliability of the public media and the Polish Press Agency, calling on the State Treasury to take corrective actions. A day later, the Ministry of Culture announced that Minister Sienkiewicz, as the body exercising the ownership rights of the State Treasury, acting on the basis of the provisions of the Commercial Companies Code, dismissed on December 19 the current presidents of the Management Boards of Telewizja Polska SA, Polish Radio SA and Polish Press Agency SA and their supervisory boards. The minister appointed new supervisory boards, which established new management boards.
Presidential budget veto and decision of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage
President Andrzej Duda On December 23, he announced that he had vetoed the budget bill prepared by the new government, which provided, among other things, funds for public media for the next year. As the president justified, his decision was related to a “gross violation of the constitution and the principles of a democratic state of law” in the public media.
After the presidential veto, the head of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage decided on December 27 to put TVP, Polskie Radio and PAP into liquidation. The state of liquidation may be withdrawn at any time by the owner – stated in the announcement of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage. The Minister of Culture made the same decision on December 29 in relation to 17 regional companies of Polish Radio stations that are part of Auditorium 17. (PAP)
Author: Krzysztof Konopka
