The findings by the Supreme Audit Office (NIK) were presented by officials during a press conference on Thursday.
According to the audit, numerous irregularities were identified in the operations of both the National Broadcasting Council and the National Media Council (RMN) between 2016 and mid-2024, state news agency PAP reported.
The most serious accusation concerns a resolution adopted by the KRRiT, allegedly without legal basis, allowing its chairman to redirect over PLN 337 million (around USD 85 million) in public broadcasting funds into a court deposit account during the first half of 2024.
These funds, collected through mandatory license fees, were intended to support Poland’s 19 public radio and television outlets in fulfilling their public service mission.
NIK, a state watchdog tasked with auditing public spending, has filed a criminal complaint citing abuse of power or failure to perform official duties by public officials.
Other findings involve long delays in licensing procedures, often stretching over 19 to 22 months.
The KRRiT's chairman, Maciej Świrski, who has denied any wrongdoing, was found to have issued key broadcasting decisions just days before licenses expired.
He denied any wrongdowing.
The audit also criticized how complaints and petitions were registered and processed, as well as the RMN’s failure to define rules for appointing or dismissing board members of public media companies.
While the audit confirmed that financial penalties imposed for violating broadcasting regulations were issued within legal timeframes, it also found that in most of the reviewed cases, these fines—totaling over PLN 7 million—were appealed by broadcasters.
NIK expressed concern that the KRRiT had attempted to enforce payments from broadcasters TVN and Inforadio despite their appeals still being under judicial review.
The report further criticized the creation and costly operation of the National Media Institute (KIM), established in December 2020 to oversee audience measurement.
According to NIK, the institute has received over PLN 118 million in funding but has yet to deliver the promised comprehensive national media research.
Further, a separate initiative by the country's previous right-wing government – “Telemetria Polska” – received over PLN 46 million between 2018 and 2022, but has not produced finalized viewership data using proper sampling and methodology.
NIK questioned whether these projects, in their current form, were still justified, and recommended a review of their effectiveness.
The audit also addressed the legal confusion stemming from a 2015 law that stripped the KRRiT of its role in appointing public media boards, transferring this authority to the RMN.
This change was later ruled unconstitutional by Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal in 2016, but not reversed.
Despite this, NIK found that between 2016 and 2024, the RMN conducted only two open recruitment processes for public media CEOs. In one of them, a candidate who did not meet the formal requirements advanced to the final round.
Furthermore, candidates for supervisory boards were reportedly not required to submit documents proving they met legal standards under Poland’s State Asset Management Act.
NIK has recommended legislative changes to the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage to improve procedures under the Broadcasting Act, including setting strict deadlines for licensing decisions and ensuring transparency in appointments.
The audit was commissioned by the Polish parliament and conducted by NIK’s Department of Science, Education and National Heritage. It examined whether the two regulatory bodies fulfilled their statutory duties with due diligence and legality.
In Poland, as in many other countries, ownership of a TV set, or a radio, and the reception of public television and radio broadcasts, are subject to a license fee.
The money thus collected is earmarked for the funding of public programming.
The current annual fee for a household stands at just under 100 PLN "for the use of a radio receiver" or just under PLN 300 "for the use of a television set or a television set and a radio receiver."
(rt/gs)
Source: IAR, PAP