Investigations against Polish TV station: Did TV Republika spread false information?

kna | The Polish private broadcaster TV Republika is facing consequences because of its much-criticized reporting on the deadly attack in Krakow. The national broadcasting authority opened proceedings on Monday against the country's most-watched news channel, which is considered the mouthpiece of the right-wing conservative opposition. During and after the attack, the station reported live on Saturday afternoon from the site of the attack, the main market; there were no police officers there.

In the worst attack in Poland since the end of communism in 1989, a 24-year-old Pole shot six people in Krakow's old town. An Austrian woman and a British man are also among the fatalities. Eleven other victims and two police officers remain seriously injured in clinic. The perpetrator, who was stopped by police with shots, died of his injuries in hospital on Monday morning.

The State Council for Radio and Television announced that its chairwoman had initiated measures to clarify the allegations based on the complaints submitted to it. TV Republika must now provide the authority with the recording of the controversial broadcast and comment on the allegations made against it.

Culture Minister Marta Cienkowska also complained to the authority about TV Republika. The station had spread unverified information, she wrote on the X platform. She accused the channel of reporting “that can intensify panic.” Such an attack should not be “fuel for political propaganda,” said the minister. She called on the authorities to punish violations of the law.

The head of TV Republika, Tomasz Sakiewicz (58), was at the main market at the time of the attack because he was reporting on a right-wing demonstration against the government. In the live broadcast he also suggested that there was a lack of police officers in Krakow because local officers were being deployed in Warsaw.

In the capital, many police officers have been securing the Constitutional Court, among other things, for days. A power struggle is raging over the court between the center-left government and President Karol Nawrocki, who is supported by the right-wing conservative opposition. The news channel is also said to have claimed that the attacker was a foreigner.

Sakiewicz spoke of an “unprecedented hunt” against his TV program. The critics wanted to reintroduce censorship, he claimed. The largest opposition party, the right-wing conservative PiS, defended TV Republika's reporting. Its leader, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, said journalists like Sakiewicz had the right to ask whether Krakow had been adequately secured, "even if the government doesn't like it."

The State Council for Radio and Television can impose fines for violating regulations and, in extreme cases, revoke broadcasting licenses. According to a spokeswoman, the authority has received more than 5,000 complaints against TV Republika since Saturday. The “Council of Polish Media”, a self-regulatory body comparable to the German Press Council, also protested against the station.

Newspapers, radio and television stations and online media are represented in the committee, which was founded in 2023. It accused TV Republika of “unacceptable instrumentalization of the tragedy for political purposes.” This has nothing to do with journalism, according to the council.

He particularly criticized Sakiewiczs' claim that there were no police officers at the site of the attack because "all reserves were withdrawn to Warsaw." This is all the more devastating as two police officers were seriously injured during the pursuit and arrest of the perpetrator and continued to fight for their lives.

The “Association of Journalists of the Republic of Poland” also expressed “outrage at the irresponsible and untrue information” that the station had spread. Sakiewicz's behavior was scandalous and "characterized by lies and political audacity, which are typical for this station."

Telewizja Republika, its full name, was the most-watched news channel in Poland in October, according to the National Broadcasting Authority, with a market share of 5.9 percent and more than 300,000 viewers. The also private program TVN24 is in second place with a market share of 5.1 percent, followed by the public station TVP Info (2.1 percent). TV Republika was founded in 2012 by Sakiewicz and other journalists.

Despite all the calls, the terrible attack does not seem to unite Poland, but rather to further deepen the country's divisions. And TV Republika plays a central role with drastic criticism of the government.