The draft legislation, which has been signed by 103,583 citizens, was considered by the Poland's lower house on Wednesday, state news agency PAP reported.
Presenting the bill, leading opposition politician Rafał Trzaskowski said that "TVP Info’s programmes inflict harm on the public.”
He urged MPs to support the legislation to abolish the state news channel, which he said “should not exist in its present shape.”
Trzaskowski, who is mayor of Warsaw and a former presidential candidate, referred to what he called “instances of outrageous conduct” by TVP Info journalists and claimed that TVP Info is “completely controlled” by the governing Law and Justice (PiS) party.
‘No alternative’ to licence fee: gov’t official
Meanwhile, Deputy Culture Minister Szymon Giżyński told MPs on Wednesday that the bill, backed by Trzaskowski's centrist Civic Platform (PO) party and other opposition groups, “does not offer any alternative” to the funding of state media from the licence fee.
Giżyński warned that abolishing the TV and radio licence fee would force state channels “to stop broadcasting sports events and airing film productions,” while state radio stations, especially regional ones, “wouldn’t be able to function at all.”
State TV, radio 'are the only media outlets that speak the truth': ruling party MP
The governing conservatives have called for the bill to be rejected.
Ruling party MP Marek Suski said on Wednesday that public TV and radio broadcasters “are the only media outlets in Poland that speak the truth."
He described the initiative as “an attack on freedom of speech and on the right of citizens to have access to information,” public broadcaster Polish Radio’s IAR news agency reported.
Suski added that "the bill’s authors seek to take control of state TV in case of winning parliamentary elections."
Polish MPs are due to vote on the bill on Thursday, the PAP news agency reported.
(pm/gs)
Source: IAR, PAP, dorzeczy.pl