President Obama famously said that “elections have consequences.” Now, Poles learned the hard way how right he was.
It's incredible how much the New Year's Eve celebration organized in a relatively small city, Chełm, by TV Republika (Republic), hurt some people. Starting with attempts to reduce the apparent viewership success in the eyes of the audience - the station beat other news channels in this respect, and when it comes to the average viewership of the New Year's Eve event itself, it landed on the podium right behind the giants - to mockery.
Some ask why and why in Chełm (the city has a population of 58,000)? Some were probably just envious, and others were angry because the event was well received and watched and enjoyed by millions of Poles. However, this time, the liberal-left circles, which constitute the media base of Donald Tusk's government, did not manage to keep TV Republika silent. This covering with a veil of silence has for years been one of the basic methods of action towards inconvenient publicists, writers, or media associated with the right wing.
Therefore, if they could not be silenced, they had to be attacked - and that is precisely what is being done. The TV Republic showed one more interesting thing: how the closed system in the media functions in Poland and how this system defends itself and reacts aggressively when someone breaks it.
However, the media attacks were not enough. Seemingly, the city itself is being punished by the government. It was announced yesterday that an investment in this city, a medical digitization center (100 jobs), has been canceled, effective immediately.
PN: I never even dreamed that something like that is possible in a democratic country in the center of Europe. But it is.
- Based on reporting by Niezalezna(.)pl and Dorzeczy(.)pl
