English version of CMWP SDP statement issued on July 14th:
The Press Freedom Monitoring Centre (CMWP) of the Polish Journalists Association (SDP) hereby protests against the decision taken by Freedom House to change Poland’s press freedom status from Free to Partly Free. This decision was taken unilaterally, based on a hypothesis presented in a piece entitled „Pluralism Under Attack: The Assault on Press Freedom in Poland” by Annabelle Chapman, published on June 29th 2017.
The report is not only selective in its choice of facts but also based on the author’s subjective opinions. It does not pass the criteria of validity, reliability or the rigours of an exact study and cannot be regarded as a piece of solid trustworthy journalism too. Superficial and suspicious methodology used to describe the situation of the media market in Poland, a generalized appraisal based on highly selective events, that omit reality and fail to report events that do not match the author’s claims – about the alleged threats to freedom of the press in Poland – inopportunely leads one to conclude that this report represents a variety of political journalism that is aimed uniquely at promoting the author’s stance and of the entities which sponsored it.
The most controversial conclusions of the author’s “analysis” however – ones that generate the greatest disappointment – are those that lead Freedom House, the organization commissioning report, to change Poland’s press freedom status from Free to Partly Free. The report thereby misleads all those who read it as to the real condition of Poland’s media market. The CMWP SDP expresses its deep regret that Freedom House chooses to lend its authority to such an unreliably drawn up piece of reporting.
Dr Jolanta Hajdasz
Director
Press Freedom Monitoring Centre
Polish Journalists Association
