The National
Broadcasting Council

I call on the Senate of the Republic of Poland and the government to take action to guarantee the stable functioning of Polish diaspora media, particularly those operating in the East.

Today's discussion during the sitting of the Sejm Committee on Liaison with Poles Abroad confirmed the scale of concerns raised by representatives of Polish diaspora communities. During the proceedings, participants pointed to significant reductions, or the complete suspension, of funding for many editorial teams that have, for years, played an important role in sustaining Polish identity and promoting the Polish language and culture beyond the country's borders. The situation is particularly difficult for media operating in Belarus, Lithuania, and Ukraine.

Belarus

• The Union of Poles in Belarus will receive four times less funding for media under the ‘Senate-Polonia 2026’ programmes than in previous years;
• the magazine ‘Magazyn Polski’, whose editor-in-chief was formerly Andrzej Poczobut, is under threat;
• the website portalzpb.pl is at risk of closure.

Lithuania

• Cuts are affecting the well-known website ‘Znad Wilii’;
• ‘Wilnoteka’ – a Polish-language multimedia portal and television programme – is at risk of closure. The ‘Wilnoteka’ television programme will receive 70% less funding from the Senate this year than in previous years;
• difficulties have also been reported by the editorial team of BM TV, run by Roman Gorecki-Mickiewicz, a great-great-grandson of Adam Mickiewicz living in Lithuania. In April, the editorial team was informed that it would receive no funding from the Senate this year.

Ukraine

• Around a dozen Polish editorial teams along the Dnieper are raising the alarm about their difficult situation;
• The website Kresy24.pl has suspended operations;
• ‘Kurier Galicyjski’ received only PLN 60,000 from the Senate, out of the PLN 440,000 it had applied for;
• the radio programme ‘Polska Fala’ in Rivne is under threat;
• the website and newspaper ‘Monitor Wołyński”’fear for their future.

Diaspora media are not ordinary media ventures. For many communities scattered beyond Poland's borders, they are a primary source of information in the Polish language, as well as a tool for maintaining ties with the homeland.

The Polish language is the most important factor in maintaining Polish culture and national identity, both at home and abroad.

 

Dr Agnieszka Glapiak

KRRiT Chair