Politicizing Poland’s Public Service Media: The Analysis of Wiadomości News Program

Abstract

This study explores the tensions between the mission and pluralism of the media versus the participation of the public service media (PSM) in government propaganda in Poland. We present the results of the hybrid qualitative-quantitative content analysis of the propaganda techniques used in Wiadomości – the main public TVP1 news program. Two weekly blocks of news were analyzed. The first was randomly selected from 2015-2020. The second was subsequently chosen for the same seven days, two years later. We assumed that this chronological difference would reveal changes in narration and propaganda used in the news. The analysis refers to the mission of PSM, as defined by the law in the Broadcasting Act (1992). The changes that occurred after 2015 were also the result of new legal regulations and personnel changes. The conclusions confirm that the news from the PSM is controlled and manipulated by the government.