National media council will go if we win power, opposition MP pledges

The state-owned news channel TVP Info and the National Media Council will be shut down, if the opposition won the next general election, a leading opposition MP has said.

Boris Budka made the pledge following Monday's dismissal of Jacek Kurski, head of Poland's public TV broadcaster TVP

According to Budka the National Media Council, TVP Info and Kurski himself were responsible for TVP’s allegedly biased output in favour of the government.

"The National Media Council is an undemocratic institution. The council has about as much in common with independence as (ruling party leader - PAP) Jaroslaw Kaczynski has with democracy. This is not an independent body," Budka said.

Referring to Kurski's sacking from the TVP chair, Budka described him as "the man responsible for seven years of hate speech and lies."

Budka also announced plans to close down the TVP Info channel, noting that it mainly relied on "pseudo-experts and patho-celebrities."

"We will have to sweep out what Kurski brought in," Budka said.