Amendment No. 25 | Doc. 14229 | 23 January 2017
Attacks against journalists and media freedom in Europe
In the draft resolution, replace paragraph 11 with the following paragraph:
"Noting that on 22 June 2016 the Polish Parliament passed an act on the National Media Council - a new body with the power to nominate and dismiss management and supervisory boards of public media - thus enhancing the influence of the governing majority over public media, the Assembly asks the Venice Commission to prepare an opinion on this law. The Assembly also deplores the fact that recommendations by the Constitutional Tribunal on this act have not been implemented. The Assembly regrets the dismissal of over 200 journalists from public media posts and calls on the Polish authorities to refrain from further actions in that direction and to work towards the depoliticisation of the media and their controlling institutions."
Explanatory note
The original paragraph referred to a law that is no longer in force.
In its December 2016 judgement the Constitutional Tribunal stated that depriving the National Broadcasting Council of the competence to appoint the authorities of public media was unconstitutional and that the competence should be restored.