(ANSA-AFP) - WARSAW, DEC 28 - Following pressure from the EU
and US, Polish President Andrzej Duda on Monday vetoed a media
ownership law that critics said was aimed at silencing the
US-owned news channel TVN24. "I refuse to sign the radio and
television law amendment and am sending it back to parliament to
be re-examined. This means that I am vetoing it," Duda said in a
televised address. The law, which was adopted by parliament this
month, would have prevented companies from outside the European
Economic Area from holding a controlling stake in Polish media
companies. That would have forced US group Discovery to sell a
majority stake in TVN, one of Poland's biggest private TV
networks, and its news channel TVN24. The government had argued
the law would protect Poland's media landscape from potentially
hostile actors such as Russia. Duda said he agreed with this
principle, but that it should not be made to apply to existing
business arrangements and investment treaties. (ANSA-AFP).
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