State oil-firm buyout of media group sparks Polish fears

PKN Orlen, the state-owned refiner, introduced the deal in December.

The firm, that had nearly €24.5bn in gross sales income in 2019, determined to purchase a neighborhood media writer (with round €88m income and €1.9m of web revenue in 2019) out of “purely business reasons”, Daniel Obajtek, the corporate CEO, defined to MPs on Friday (8 January) in a particular listening to in parliament.

“We are looking for diversification”, Obajtek stated.

Maciej Małecki, state secretary within the ministry of state property praised the transfer as “Re-Polonisation” of a media supposedly “dominated by German capital”, through the Friday listening to. But many journalists, media specialists and opposition worry for an extra lower in media pluralism and press freedom within the nation.

“This transaction turns previously private, independent media into state media. And we know how that ends” Iwona Śledzińska-Katarasinka, vice-president of Civic Platform, informed this web site – referring to the dramatic adjustments which have taken place in public tv and radio since 2015. Namely, the lack of journalistic independence, large-scale dismissals and elevated politicisation.

“The government claims that German publishers curb journalistic independence – but that’s not our experience. We actually fear this will only start now”, a Polska Press worker, who want to stay nameless, informed this web site.

Polska Press, at present owned by German Verlagsgruppe Passau, owns 20 out of 24 regional dailies, in addition to 120 native weeklies, 500 native information websites reaching 17.4m customers per 30 days, and 6 giant printing homes. It employs 760 journalists.

In many native and regional markets Polska Press holds a dominant place. Its titles largely attain small native audiences in rural areas – an necessary constituency for the governing Law & Justice (PiS) social gathering.

“It’s hard not to see this transaction as purely political”, Adam Szynol, a media educational from Wroclaw University, informed this web site.

“For local elections, the local press is the main channel for reaching out to the electorate”, he added.

The transaction “not only increases a risk of political pressure and control” but in addition probably contributes to “deeper polarisation and partisanship in the already divided Polish press sector”, professor Beata Klimkiewicz, media educational from Jagiellonian University, informed EUobserver.

‘New media order’

The Law and Justice electoral programme in 2019 stated that “…a majority of the media is controlled by the opposition” and that considered one of its foremost coverage goals is to “construct a new media order”.

“The Orlen takeover can be seen as one step in a series of related activities that aim to counterweight major media groups such as Agora [publisher of the leftwing Gazeta Wyborcza] and TVN/Discovery [owner of a government-critical TV station] and empower [a] right-wing media camp.”

However, this isn’t the primary transfer for the oil large into the media market.

In 2020 the corporate took over Ruch – the second-largest press distributor, delivering newspapers to over 15,000 kiosks in Poland – and created its personal media home, aggregating promoting budgets from giant state-owned corporations.

The acquisition of Polska Press nonetheless must be accredited by UOKIK, Poland’s competitors authority.

Adam Bodnar, Poland’s ombudsman, has referred to as on UOKIK to “protect the citizens’ right to reliable information” and “shield the media market from political pressure”.

But UOKiK responded that the transaction will solely be examined in regard to competitors guidelines – and never media pluralism or press freedom.

The workplace had not too long ago blocked the acquisition of Eurozet, the proprietor of Radio Zet (one of many largest radio stations in Poland), by Agora (the writer of Gazeta Wyborcza, a leftwing unbiased each day). The workplace claimed that the acquisition would restrict competitors in radio markets by making a duopoly.

But many see this as a politically-motivated determination.

“Based on UOKiK decision regarding Agora I would expect that the Office will also block Orlen transaction as Polska Press is already a monopoly on the local media market”, Adam Szynol informed this web site, warning that “if the deal goes through, there will be local markets where PKN Orlen will hold a dominant position both in press production and distribution”.

Many nationwide and worldwide journalists associations have protested in opposition to the acquisition as a risk to press freedom.

Reporters with out Borders warned that “Polska Press is just the start”.

“While the government promises “deconcentration” of the independent media, its plan is (…) to concentrate them in its own hands”, RSF wrote on Twitter.

Since 2015 Poland has fallen dramatically within the press-freedom rankings, from 18th in 2015 to 62nd last year.

Poland already charges extremely in dangers to media pluralism as a result of “lack of relevant regulatory safeguards limiting political control over media outlets”, based on Klimkiewicz in a Media Pluralism in Digital Age report ordered by European Commission.

PKN Orlen, in a response to EUobserver, wrote that “the whole transaction was conducted in compliance with legal regulations” and that suggesting in any other case is “illegitimate” and might be seen as “an attack on company’s image”.

The firm runs six refineries in Poland, the Czech Republic and Lithuania and extractive operations in Poland and Canada.

It is at present continuing with two main acquisitions of state-owned firms within the gasoline and vitality sector – Grupa LOTOS (an oil refiner) and PGNiG (a gasoline refiner).

Last yr it has finalised the acquisition of Energa, an electrical energy producer.