Telewizja Polska
TypeBroadcast television
Country
AvailabilityNationwide
International
MottoBądźmy razem. TVP (Let's be together. TVP)
Headquarters17 Woronicza Street, Warsaw, Poland
OwnerGovernment of Poland
Key people
Mateusz Matyszkowicz
(General Director)

Maciej Łopiński
(Deputy Managing Director)
Launch date
25 October 1952; 70 years ago (25 October 1952)
Former names
None; previously shortened as TP until 1992
Official website
tvp.pl

Telewizja Polska S.A. (pronounced [tɛlɛˈvizja ˈpɔlska]; TVP), also known in English as Polish Television, is a state media corporation in Poland, founded in 1952.[1][2][3] It is the oldest and largest Polish television network,[4] although viewership has been declining in the 2010s.[5]

Since 1993, the legal status of the broadcaster has been defined by the Broadcasting Act, according to which Telewizja Polska is obliged to implement "a public mission ... by offering ... various programmes and other services in the field of information, journalism, culture, entertainment, education and sport, characterized by pluralism, impartiality, balance and independence as well as innovation, high quality and integrity of the message."[6]

Timeline of Polish TV service

Station identification boards (idents) of each city, 1950s and 1960s
TVP headquarters at 17 Jan Paweł Woronicz Street (ul. Jana Pawła Woronicza), Warsaw, Poland[7]

International cooperation

In 2012, TVP signed an agreement with the BBC, under which they will work together on film and television productions.[13][needs update]

The French-German TV liberal arts network ARTE cancelled a 15-year cooperation with TVP,[14] when it learned in February 2009 that TVP's general director, Piotr Farfał, was a member of the League of Polish Families, which opposed Arte's "philosophy based on intercultural exchange"[15] and "the party that TVP's chairman is presently connected with does not share European values".[16] It was again cancelled in January 2016 after an amendment of the media law in Poland, which caused fears of a lack of pluralism and independence of TVP.[17]

Viewership

In September 2020, TVP's "Wiadomości" was the most popular news program in Poland, with an average of 2.66 million viewers a day.[18]
In February 2021, TVP's "Wiadomości" was second most popular news program in Poland, with an average of 2.41 million viewers a day.[19]

Logo history

TV channels

DTT in Poland

LCN Channel Logo Broadcast standard Start of terrestrial broadcast
1 TVP1 bezramki DVB-T MUX-3 25th October 1952[20]
2 TVP2 DVB-T MUX-3 2nd October 1970[20]
3 TVP3 bezramki DVB-T MUX-3 5th September 1994[20][21]
19 TVP Polonia bezramki DVB-T2 MUX-6 9th December 2011[22][23]
20 TVP Nauka [pl] bezramki DVB-T2 MUX-6 3rd October 2022[20]
24 TVP Dokument DVB-T2 MUX-6 19th November 2020[20]
27 TVP Rozrywka bezramki DVB-T2 MUX-6 15th April 2013[24]
28 Alfa TVP [pl] bezramki DVB-T2 MUX-6 24th January 2023[25]
29
800
TVP ABC Logo TVP ABC DVB-T2 MUX-1[26]
DVB-T2 MUX-6
15th February 2014[20]
30 TVP Kultura DVB-T2 MUX-6 27th October 2010[27]
31 TVP Historia DVB-T MUX-3 27th October 2010[27]
32 TVP Sport DVB-T MUX-3 7th June 2018[28]
34 TVP Info DVB-T MUX-3 6th October 2007[29]
35 TVP Kobieta [pl] DVB-T2 MUX-6 8th March 2021[20]
36 Belsat DVB-T2 MUX-6 24th January 2023
88 TVP GO (service) bezramki HbbTV / DVB-T MUX-3 1st February 2022
91 TVP World [] HbbTV / DVB-T MUX-3 28th March 2023
92 TVP ABC 2 [pl] HbbTV / DVB-T MUX-3 10th November 2021[30]
93 TVP Historia 2 [pl] HbbTV / DVB-T MUX-3 1st March 2021[31]
94 TVP Kultura 2 [pl] HbbTV / DVB-T MUX-3 26th June 2020[32]
95 Pershyi (partnership) HbbTV / DVB-T MUX-8 1st March 2022

DTT in Lithuania

Channel Logo Broadcast standard
TVP Wilno [pl] DVB-T MUX-2
and MUX in South-East Lithuania
TVP Polonia bezramki
TVP World [pl]
TVP Info
TVP Historia 2 [pl]
TVP Kultura 2 [pl]
Belsat

Flagship channels

Thematic channels

Internet channels

International channels

Streaming platforms

Upcoming channels

Former channels, services and projects

Controversies

Before 2015, the PiS (then opposition) often criticized TVP of siding with government (PO-PSL)[36][37][38] or even compared it to communist propaganda[39] In 2015, the government passed a law allowing it to directly appoint the head of TVP.[40] Since then, TVP has displayed bias towards the Law and Justice (PiS) party (then government), and was compared by critics with propaganda of the former Communist regime.[41][42][43] TVP has also faced criticism for its portrayal of LGBT people, the political opposition, Jews, and other groups as a shadowy conspiracy seeking to undermine Poland.[44][45] In 2018, The Economist stated: "the [TVP] anchors... praise PiS slavishly while branding its critics treacherous crypto-communists.[46]

In July 2016 Politico.eu criticized it for strong pro-government bias.[47]

In 2017, TVP triggered a hate campaign against Polsat journalist Dorota Bawolek, following a question the Bawolek asked to the European Commission in Brussels regarding a controversial judicial reform in Poland.[48] The hate campaign resulted in death threats against the journalist. The European Commission expressed its condemnation of the online hate campaign caused by TVP[49] and the Strasbourg-based Council of Europe issued an alert to the Polish authorities in respect of the hate campaign against Bawolek.[50]

The press freedom organization Reporters Without Borders wrote in its 2019 assessment of Polish press freedom that "many blamed state-owned TV broadcaster TVP's 'hate propaganda' for Gdansk mayor Pawel Adamowicz's murder in January 2019.".[51] Ahead of the 2019 European parliament elections, TVP ran 105 segments of the election of which 68 of 69 focused on the ruling party were positive and all 33 about the opposition were negative, according to a study by the Society of Journalists.[42] Polish political scientist and anti-racism activist Rafał Pankowski stated, "I am old enough to remember Communist-controlled television in the 1980s, and I can safely say that what we have now is cruder, more primitive, and more aggressive than anything that was broadcast at that time."[42] This contrasts with the testimonies that killer of Pawel Adamowicz was reading Gazeta Wyborcza, Dziennik Bałtycki, Polityka and Wprost[52] and watched TVN,[53] and Polsat but not TVP[54]

TVP was heavily criticized in the run-up to the 2020 Polish presidential election, being described as the "mouthpiece" of the government[55] and as "peddl[ing] government hate speech" by the organization Reporters Without Borders.[56] The state television broadcast a segment of Wiadomości called Trzaskowski spełni żydowskie żądania? ("Will Trzaskowski meet Jewish demands?") regarding the Civic Platform candidate Rafał Trzaskowski. A complaint was made by the American Jewish Committee, Union of Jewish Religious Communities, the Chief Rabbi of Poland, to the Polish Media Ethics Council [pl] regarding antisemitism in the program. The Council concluded not only were anti-semitic statements made in the show, it did not uphold journalistic standards: Wiadomości "turned into an instrument of propaganda of one of the candidates in this election".[57][58][59][60][61][62]

In 2020, the station was ordered to retract a documentary, Inwazja, released just before the 2019 elections. Comparing the LGBT movement unfavorably to the Swedish Deluge and Communism, the documentary claimed that there is an "LGBT invasion" of Poland and that LGBT organizations have the goal of legalizing pedophilia. It was found to defame the Campaign Against Homophobia organization. Ombudsman Adam Bodnar stated, "The material not only reproduces stereotypes and heightens social hatred towards LGBT people, but also manipulates facts."[63][64][42][65]

According to Timothy Garton Ash, "the broadcaster has descended into the paranoid world of the far right, where spotless, heroic, perpetually misunderstood Poles are being conspired against by dark, international German-Jewish-LGBT-plutocratic forces meeting secretly in Swiss chateaux."[44] TVP president Jacek Kurski rejected the contention that the organization violated broadcasting law,[66][67] and conservative media commentator and former TVP employee Jacek Karnowski says the station "deserves recognition" for its "consistent promotion of patriotism and pro-state thinking".[68][69]

See also

References

  1. ^ Santora, Marc; Berendt, Joanna (11 October 2019). "Poland's State Media Is Government's Biggest Booster Before Election". The New York Times.
  2. ^ "Poland's media battle gets political". Politico.eu. 11 February 2019.
  3. ^ "Polish government to 'repolonize' media in next term, deputy PM says". Reuters. 20 June 2019.
  4. ^ "Nie ufamy mediom publicznym i częściej płacimy za treści". Press.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 2020-08-07.
  5. ^ "W 2010 r. zyskała tylko TVN, duży spadek TVP 1" [In 2010, only TVN gained, TVP 1 decreased significantly] (in Polish). Wirtualnemedia.pl. 2 November 2010. Retrieved 19 December 2020.
  6. ^ "Ustawa z dnia 29 grudnia 1992 r. o radiofonii i telewizji". isap.sejm.gov.pl.
  7. ^ "Redakcja tvp.pl" (in Polish). TVP S.A. Retrieved 2012-08-19.
  8. ^ "Sport w TVP - obrazki z wystawy". www.teleman.pl.
  9. ^ "Wystartowała TVP eSzkoła [akt.]". SATKurier.pl.
  10. ^ "Dziś wystartował internetowy kanał TVP Kultura 2: w ofercie m.in. filmy, seriale i koncerty". rozrywka.blog - Cyfrowy styl życia. June 26, 2020.
  11. ^ ""Ważna chwila dla fanów dobrego dokumentu". Startuje nowy kanał TVP [WIDEO]". www.tvp.info. November 18, 2020.
  12. ^ "Wyjątkowy prezent dla Polek z okazji 8 marca. Startuje TVP Kobieta". www.tvp.info. February 26, 2021.
  13. ^ "TVP stawia na współpracę z BBC. Nowe produkcje". Media2.pl. Retrieved 12 July 2015.
  14. ^ "EUROPÄISCHE PARTNER". arte.tv. Archived from the original on July 8, 2012.
  15. ^ "Libertas to cut links with controversial Polish political party". The Irish Times. 19 March 2009. Retrieved 12 July 2015.
  16. ^ Nick Holdsworth. "Dual peril for Poland's top pubcaster". Variety. Retrieved 12 July 2015.
  17. ^ "Francuska TV ARTE zrywa współpracę z TVP". Rzeczpospolita.
  18. ^ ""Wiadomości" liderem oglądalności we wrześniu". sdp.pl (in Polish). 5 October 2020. Retrieved 2020-12-22.
  19. ^ ""Fakty" liderem oglądalności w lutym". wirtualnemedia.pl. 3 March 2021.
  20. ^ a b c d e f g (from the start of the station)
  21. ^ As TVP Regionalna, TVP Info or TVP3.
  22. ^ "Polska: TVP Polonia w MUX-3". RadioPolska. 2011-12-13. Retrieved 2023-08-07.
  23. ^ With breaks from 2016 to 2020 and from February 2022 to September 2022.
  24. ^ With a break from June 2018 to December 2018.
  25. ^ "Alfa TVP już nadaje". SATKurier.pl. Retrieved 2023-08-07.
  26. ^ Planned to move on MUX-6 no later than 3rd September 2023.
  27. ^ a b "Polska: Testy MUX-3, wkrótce oficjalny start". RadioPolska. 2010-10-22. Retrieved 2023-08-07.
  28. ^ "Polska: TVP Sport w MUX-3". RadioPolska. 2018-06-07. Retrieved 2023-08-07.
  29. ^ As a main programme of local branches - on 1st September 2013 it begun broadcasting as standalone news channel without local programmes which have moved to TVP Regionalna (later TVP3) on that day.
  30. ^ "TVP ABC 2 w telewizji hybrydowej HbbTV na MUX 8". SATKurier.pl. Retrieved 2023-08-07.
  31. ^ "Kanał TVP Historia 2 już nadaje". SATKurier.pl. Retrieved 2023-08-07.
  32. ^ "Kanał TVP Kultura 2 już nadaje". SATKurier.pl. Retrieved 2023-08-07.
  33. ^ At the moment, only the Warsaw version of it haves the HD feed, meanwhile others still have only the SD feed.
  34. ^ TVP Dokument wystartuje 19 listopada, satkurier, 6 October 2020
  35. ^ "TVP World ma ruszyć w 2021 roku. Kurski: dla Polaków za granicą niemówiących już po polsku". www.wirtualnemedia.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 2021-02-09.
  36. ^ "Sasin: "TVP jest tubą propagandową, dziennikarze sprzeniewierzają się misji"" [Sasin: "TVP is a propaganda mouthpiece, journalists are betraying the mission"] (in Polish). 27 November 2013.
  37. ^ "PiS idzie na wojnę z TVP" [PiS goes to war with TVP] (in Polish).
  38. ^ "PO, PSL, RP: Niech TVP puści "Anatomię upadku". Ale film National Geographic też" [PO, PSL, RP: Let TVP play "Anatomy of Fall". But so is the National Geographic movie] (in Polish). Jeżeli TVP chce pokazać NG, to musi pokazać też drugi. Powinny się pojawić w przestrzeni publicznej równorzędnie, wtedy będziemy mieli do czynienia z telewizją publiczną - mówił. - Jeżeli telewizja przekazuje jedną wersję, mamy do czynienia z telewizją rządową. A to, niestety, staje się normą - dodał. [If TVP wants to show NG, it must also show the other one. They should appear equally in the public space, then we will deal with public television - he said. If the television broadcasts one version, it is government television. And this, unfortunately, is becoming the norm - he added.]
  39. ^ "PiS idzie na wojnę z TVP" [PiS goes to war with TVP] (in Polish). Telewizja publiczna przeszła wczoraj samą siebie. Będziemy pisać protesty, bo przypomniały się najgorsze czasy. 'Dziennik Telewizyjny' był wczoraj zamiast 'Wiadomości'. Widocznie poszła dyrektywa ze strony PO i stąd jednoznaczny przekaz. - Adam Hofman [Public television surpassed itself yesterday. We will write protests, because we remembered the worst times. It was 'Dziennik Telewizyjny' yesterday instead of the Wiadomości. Apparently, the directive have followed from the PO and hence a clear message. - Adam Hofman]
  40. ^ "Poland profile - Media". BBC News. 21 January 2019. Retrieved 31 October 2020.
  41. ^ Połońska, Eva (2019). "Watchdog, Lapdog, or Attack Dog? Public Service Media and the Law and Justice Government in Poland". Public Service Broadcasting and Media Systems in Troubled European Democracies. Springer International Publishing. pp. 227–255. ISBN 978-3-030-02710-0.
  42. ^ a b c d Davies, Christian (11 October 2019). "'Cruder than the Communists': Polish TV goes all out for rightwing vote". The Guardian. Retrieved 21 October 2020.
  43. ^ Sources:
    • "A Leaderless Struggle for Democracy". Freedom House. Poland's legislative elections laid bare the extent to which the ruling Law and Justice party had politically captured the state media, whose taxpayer-funded broadcasts leading up to the voting amounted to partisan propaganda.
    • Kalan, Dariusz (25 November 2019). "Poland's State of the Media". Foreign Policy. Retrieved 27 September 2020.
    • "Poland". RSF. Reporters without borders. Retrieved 27 September 2020. Partisan discourse and hate speech are still the rule within state-owned media, which have been transformed into government propaganda mouthpieces. Their new directors tolerate neither opposition nor neutrality from employees and fire those who refuse to comply.
    • Kortas, Olivia (11 March 2020). "Poland's TVP public television rift reveals PiS party split". Deutsche Welle. Retrieved 27 September 2020.
    • OSCE 2020 presidential election final report (Archived 30 October 2020 at the Wayback Machine): "The public broadcaster (TVP) failed in its legal duty to provide impartial coverage, which could offset the editorial bias of the private media. Instead, TVP acted as a campaign vehicle for the incumbent."
    • Żuk 2020. "The election campaign before the next election won by PiS in October 2019 showed particularly clearly how public media became the property of the ruling party and practiced propaganda typical of authoritarian states instead of public debate."
    • Węglińska, Agnieszka (2020). "The Image of Germany in Social Media: Political and Social Aspects of Public Service Media in Poland". Central European Journal of Communication. 13 (25): 41–54. doi:10.19195/1899-5101.13.1(25).4. ISSN 1899-5101. Government control over TVP contributes to public service media being a tool for propaganda and politics...
    • Kalan, Dariusz (18 January 2021). "Poland's PiS-poor media". Balkan Insight. Retrieved 18 January 2021. Over the last few years, Poland's public television broadcaster TVP and radio broadcasters have been put squarely under PiS control – and even insiders admit they have been transformed into hardline government mouthpieces. This unprecedented move has been condemned by various international organisations, including the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, Reporters Without Borders, and the Council of Europe, which called TVP "a propaganda channel for the ruling party".
  44. ^ a b Ash, Timothy Garton (10 July 2020). "Opinion: For a bitter taste of Polish populism, just watch the evening 'news'". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 27 September 2020.
  45. ^ Żuk, Piotr (2020). "One Leader, One Party, One Truth: Public Television Under the Rule of the Populist Right in Poland in the Pre-Election Period in 2019". Javnost - the Public. 27 (3): 287–307. doi:10.1080/13183222.2020.1794413. S2CID 221980008.
  46. ^ "Poland's ruling Law and Justice party is doing lasting damage". The Economist. 21 April 2018. Retrieved 2018-04-27.
  47. ^ CIENSKI, JAN (2016-07-11). "Polish media veers back to pre-1989". POLITICO. Retrieved 2017-07-15.
  48. ^ Gotev, Georgi (17 July 2017). "State-controlled Polish TV instigated hate against Brussels journalist". Euractiv. Retrieved 25 June 2023.
  49. ^ Georis, Vincent (18 July 2017). "Une journaliste polonaise menacée de mort" [A Polish journalist received death threats]. L’Echo (in French). Retrieved 25 June 2023.
  50. ^ "Polish Journalist Receives Death Threats After Public Polish TV Classifies Her Remarks As "Harmful to Poland"". Safety of Journalists Platform. Council of Europe. 18 July 2017. Retrieved 25 June 2023.
  51. ^ "Poland". Reporters Without Borders.
  52. ^ "Proces Stefana W. Którą telewizję oglądał i jaką prasę czytał w więzieniu Stefan W.? Zeznania współosadzonego wyjawiają kolejne wątki" (in Polish). 22 July 2022. Czytał „Gazetę Wyborczą", „Dziennik Bałtycki", „Politykę", „Wprost"
  53. ^ "Współwięzień Stefana W.: Kiedy oglądał "Fakty" TVN, wyzywał ludzi Platformy Obywatelskiej" [Co-prisoner of Stefan W .: When he watched "Fakty" TVN, he insulted the people of the Civic Platform] (in Polish).
  54. ^ "Oglądał "Fakty", czytał... "Wyborczą". Kolejny współosadzony ujawnia zwyczaje mordercy prezydenta Gdańska" [Oglądał "Fakty", czytał... "Wyborczą". Kolejny współosadzony ujawnia zwyczaje mordercy prezydenta Gdańska] (in Polish). "Oglądaliśmy czasem wiadomości. Ale jeśli już, to przeważnie na Polsacie i TVN. Na pewno nie oglądaliśmy ich wtedy w TVP" - mówił "Profesor", który ze Stefanem W. spotkał się w "kryminale" w Malborku. ["We watched the news from time to time. But if anything, it was mostly on Polsat and TVN. We certainly did not watch them on TVP then" - said "Professor", who met Stefan W. in the Malbork jail.]
  55. ^ Santora, Marc; Berendt, Joanna (2019-10-11). "Poland's State Media Is Government's Biggest Booster Before Election". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-07-11.
  56. ^ "Polish public broadcaster peddles government hate speech in presidential election run-up". Reporters Without Borders. 24 June 2020. Archived from the original on 1 July 2020.
  57. ^ "Rada Etyki Mediów o "Wiadomościach": "To instrument propagandy"". www.kobieta.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 30 October 2020.
  58. ^ "Polish state TV incited hatred against Jews, media ethics panel says". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. 19 June 2020. Retrieved 30 October 2020.
  59. ^ Reuters Staff (10 July 2020). "Jewish group slams Polish public TV for 'hateful' role in presidential race". Reuters. Retrieved 30 October 2020. ((cite news)): |author= has generic name (help)
  60. ^ "Leading presidential hopeful would 'satisfy Jewish claims' for Holocaust restitution, Polish state TV warns". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. 16 June 2020. Retrieved 30 October 2020.
  61. ^ "Wyborcza.pl". Retrieved 30 October 2020.
  62. ^ "Organizacje żydowskie złożyły skargę na "Wiadomości"". JEWISH.PL (in Polish). Retrieved 30 October 2020.
  63. ^ Bretan, Juliette (8 June 2020). "Court orders Polish state broadcaster TVP to take down online anti-LGBT film". Notes From Poland. Retrieved 21 October 2020.
  64. ^ "KPH wygrywa w sądzie z TVP. Podatnicy dowiedzą się, ile kosztowała homofobiczna "Inwazja"". oko.press. Retrieved 21 October 2020.
  65. ^ "TVP o Inwazji LGBT: "Potop", "gorsza niż najbardziej zagorzali komuniści", "czeka nas legalizacja pedofilii"". oko.press. Retrieved 21 October 2020.
  66. ^ "Prezes TVP: Staramy się robić telewizję rzetelną i spluralizowaną" [President of TVP: We try to make television reliable and plural] (in Polish). Interia. Retrieved 2020-12-20.
  67. ^ "Sejmowa komisja o TVP. Kurski bronił rzetelności, ale posłanka Sobecka przebiła prezesa" [Sejm committee about TVP. Kurski defended integrity, but MP Sobecka defended more than the president] (in Polish). Gazeta.pl. Retrieved 2020-12-20.
  68. ^ "Cztery lata prezesury Jacka Kurskiego w TVP. "Sprawny i kreatywny, razi jego gust i cynizm"". Wirtualnemedia.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 2020-12-19.
  69. ^ "Cztery lata prezesury Jacka Kurskiego w TVP. "Telewizja publiczna na wielu polach odbudowała swoją przewagę"". Wpolityce.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 2020-12-20.