wPolsce24 refuses to hand police video of Warsaw protest — RMF24

In Poland, the wPolsce24 television channel has refused to provide police with video recordings of an October demonstration near the Constitutional Tribunal in Warsaw. The editorial team said it had received a request similar to the one previously sent to TV Republika, RMF24 reports.

The channel's position

According to wPolsce24, the channel's legal department analysed the request and concluded that police had not indicated a sufficient and precise legal basis for transferring unpublished journalistic materials to law enforcement officers. Therefore, the television channel decided not to hand over the recordings at this stage.

wPolsce24 editor-in-chief Jacek Karnowski called the actions of the services an alarming signal and said he intended to defend freedom of speech and media pluralism. He also said that the editorial team feared the possible use of the video to identify protest participants.

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Request to TV Republika

Earlier the same day, plainclothes police officers came to TV Republika's headquarters and left an official letter at the reception desk demanding video recordings of the gathering near the Constitutional Tribunal that took place in mid-October.

Julia Szozda, spokeswoman for the District Prosecutor's Office in Szczecin, told PAP that as part of an investigation opened following a report by Interior and Administration Minister Marcin Kierwiński regarding incidents on 16 October near the Constitutional Tribunal, to the detriment of police officers and the prime minister, the prosecutor demanded materials from TV Republika's editor-in-chief. These included, in particular, video from the demonstration, logs of broadcast and caption-generation systems, as well as the channel's organisational documentation. According to her, the request did not concern electronic devices or documents protected by journalistic confidentiality.