Poland media guide

This page is no longer being updated. It was last updated on 28 March 2023

Poland's broadcasting market is the largest in Eastern and Central Europe.

TV is the leading medium and three players - state-owned TVP and private TVN and Polsat - dominate the market.

Many non-state media outlets are owned by foreign concerns, particularly German companies. Agora - the publisher of Gazeta Wyborcza newspaper - is the main domestic media group.

There are hundreds of newspaper titles, most of them local or regional. The top-selling tabloid, Fakt, is owned by Germany-based publisher Axel Springer.

The constitution guarantees freedom of expression and forbids censorship.

The ruling Law and Justice party (PiS) has increased its influence over the media since coming to power in 2015.

Public media and their governing bodies "have been purged of independent or dissenting voices" since the PiS came to power, Freedom House has said.

Private media are better trusted than public broadcasters who have been acting in recent years "more like government cheerleaders", Reuters Institute has said.

Non-state media are influential and sufficiently powerful to challenge the authorities.

Some ruling party members have called for changes in the law to reduce foreign ownership of the media, advocating a "repolonisation" of the sector.

There were nearly 29.7 million internet users by December 2021, comprising 78% of the population (Internetworldstats.com). Facebook is the leading social network.

Press

Television

Radio

News agency/internet