Democracy Digest: Further Pressure Piled on Region’s Independent Media

"We are aware of the concerns by media in Poland. We have seen the black screens. We expect member states to ensure that their fiscal or other policies will not affect the duty of ensuring a free, independent and diverse media ecosystem," a spokesman for the European Commission told a press conference on the same day.

The draft law would see different levels of tax applied to advertising in the press, on television or billboards, and online. Independent cinemas, already suffering from the blanket closure during the pandemic, would also take a hit.

The law does introduce some ceilings above which revenues would be taxed, potentially sparing some of the smaller outlets. Nevertheless, if applied, the law would heap further pressure on newspapers, which have suffered from the fierce online competition, rising losses due to the pandemic and, in the case of independent newspapers, falling revenues from state advertising since PiS came to power. Furthermore, the tax levels applied to the internet giants seem disproportionately small if the rhetoric of the Polish government about fighting their unbridled power is to be taken seriously.

In addition to what seems to be a poor calibration of the tax - which would mean more vulnerable companies are worst hit - the political intention behind the draft law is clear: to further erode the critical media while strengthening friendly channels.

The government says it plans to use the money to fight the pandemic, but while 50 per cent of the revenue would indeed go to the strained national health fund, 35 per cent will go towards a newly created "Fund for the Support of Culture and National Heritage in the Sphere of the Media".

According to the draft law, that money would be used for, among other...