“Helsinki Human Rights Foundation, Batory Foundation, Open Republic Association, Civic Network Watchdog, Polish Society of Anti-discrimination Law, Legal Intervention Association, Institute of Public Issues and Civic Education Center Foundation want to turn your attention Mr. President to TVP Wiadomości (at 19.30) of 12 May 2016. A part of the program was devoted to journalists’ invigilation and the parliament speech of Minister Mariusz Kamiński delivered on the previous day. We see the statement by the Ombudsman, and next, the statement by the lawyer of Helsinki Human Rights Foundation. The next sequence shows demonstration of Amnesty International before the seat of the President of the Republic of Poland, which took place in February 2016. This protest concerned the act on the police which increased the scope of uncontrolled invigilation of citizens. During the protest some of those gathered began to shout “Duda to Wawel”, which was immediately halted by the director of Amnesty International” – we read in the letter to Jacek Kurski, the President of TVP.

“We would like to mention that the fragment shown in the television material on the protest before the President’s Palace was not connected with the issue of invigilation of journalists, which was the leading subject of Wiadomości TVP. Illustrating material with the photos of the event which took place several months ago was aimed at discrediting Amnesty International and showing it in a bad light.

This action is very similar to the situation in non-democratic post-soviet countries such as Azerbejdżan or Bielarus, where NGOs are the object of attacks and slanders in the public media, and their activity is presented as anti-government, rebellious or terrorist. As indicated in the report of the Human Rights Commissioner of UNO entitled Human Rights Defenders: Protecting the Right to Defend Human Rights, public media in those countries manipulate with materials in order to discredit the activity of organizations dealing with human rights protection. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe several times mentioned the problem of these slander campaigns in the media against defenders of human rights.”