(TheLibertyRevolution.com)- Polish President Andrzej Duda vetoed a bill on Monday that would have required American media firm “Discovery” to let go of its controlling share of Polish TV network “TVN.”
The Associated Press reported that President Duda took the position that contracts must be “kept” and that for the Polish people it was a matter of “honor,” not politics. He also said that, had he signed and approved the legislation, it would have violated a Polish- U.S. treaty that was signed in the 1990s and that violating such a treaty could have cost billions of dollars.
The news comes after Discovery threatened to file a lawsuit against Poland over the issue.
Under the proposed legislation, which was approved by the lower house of the Polish parliament, no non-European Union company or entity would be able to purchase or own more than 50% of any Polish radio or TV network. The move was a populist one, ensuring that Polish media couldn’t be controlled by foreign companies or governments, but President Duda’s argument was that reneging on an existing deal would be without honor.
It’s not a bad point.
Ruling Law and Justice Party, a conservative party in Poland, said that the policy was important to ensure that foreign nations could not mold public opinion in Poland – which is also not a bad point.
Law and Justice spokeswoman Anita Czerwinska said that European countries “protect their media market against excess foreign capital, considering this area strategic for security and national security.”
Perhaps a good middle ground would be to allow the existing deal to stay in place…but for it to not happen again.
And maybe the United States should adopt the same model…
