The "Fourth Power" Association as a response to the threat of public media freedom and independence

Monday, 04 July 2011 00:00

The Association for the Independence of Public Media in Poland, or “Fourth Power”, was founded on July 4 2011. It is an initiative by representatives of the Polish media and media-related circles. Piotr Kochański and Andrzej Malec are founding members of the Association. The main goal of Fourth Power is to undertake activities that will strengthen the independence of the public media in Poland from the influence of political parties and other groups, as well as from other impact inconsistent with the mission of the public media.

Public media is subject to inevitable political influence. However, situations where such influence determines the shape of public media and its function must be deemed as undesirable. Believing that the scope and intensity of political influence on public media depends to the greatest extent upon the condition of the political culture of a given society, the Association maintains that without systemic changes to the law, it is impossible to shield the public media from the unwanted shaping of public media messages. The Association’s aim therefore is to encourage increased public activity and debate which will result in the legal changes necessary to prevent these negative influences.