On Wednesday, the police detained a man suspected of making threats against the president of the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity, Jerzy Owsiak. The 71-year-old from Nowy Sącz confessed and provided extensive explanations in which he expressed regret.
– He also informed that he motivated his behavior by reading one of the reports on Republika TV website – said prosecutor Piotr Skiba, press spokesman for the District Prosecutor's Office in Warsaw.
– This shows that there can be no tolerance for hate for people who do it. The consequences should be strong, certainly in the case of TV Republika. Such behavior clearly indicates that we should talk about withdrawing the license - said Krzysztof Gawkowski, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Digitization, on TVN24 on Friday.
Michał Rachoń, the station's program director, commented on the threats against TV Republika:
Prime Minister Donald Tusk and Deputy PM Gawkowski public calls to revoke Republika TV’s broadcasting license mark a dangerous authoritarian turn in Poland after RepublikaTV surpassed TVN24 to lead the Polish TV market last week.
This attack reeks of political retribution against independent, crowdfunded media supported by millions of Poles.
- Based on reporting by Wpolityce(.)pl
