Court Halts Polish State Oil Company's Media Takeover

Warsaw, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 13th Apr, 2021 ) :A Polish court has suspended the takeover of a top regional media group by state-controlled oil giant PKN Orlen, the court said Tuesday, following concerns over media pluralism.

The suspension is a blow for the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party, which has taken a firm hold on public media despite criticism from Poland's liberal opposition and international observers.

PKN Orlen announced in December that it bought Polska Press from German media group Verlagsgruppe Passau (VGP), which owns 20 of Poland's 24 regional dailies and has 17.4 million web users.

The Warsaw district court said in a statement Tuesday that it had "suspended the decision by the head of the competition authority allowing the takeover by PKN Orlen of Plock of Polska Press".

The deal was halted pending a final court decision on an objection by Poland's human rights ombudsman who has argued that the deal will restrict public access to objective information.

Since winning office in 2015, the PiS has said it wanted to "re-polonise" the country's media, accusing foreign-owned publications of representing outside interests, especially German ones.

Global media watchdog Reporters Without Borders said in its 2020 annual report that "partisan discourse and hate speech are still the rule within (Poland's) state-owned media, which have been transformed into government propaganda mouthpieces."