Ruling Polish right draws fire for media probe plan

WARSAW, Mar 11 (Reuters) Poland's ruling conservatives faced sharp criticism from human rights groups and journalists over plans to launch a sweeping inquiry into media independence that critics say may infringe on press freedom.

The Law and Justice party wants to create a parliamentary committee to investigate ''instances of interference in the free media'' by the secret services and special interest groups since the 1989 collapse of communism.

Critics say the probe will open the way for politicians to undermine the credibility of the media, which human rights groups have praised for uncovering high-level corruption.

''Plans for this commission confirm my worst fears,'' said Andrzej Rzeplinski of the Helsinki Human Rights Foundation in Warsaw yesterday. ''It will give the right a tool to discipline the press.'' ''They have longings to turn investigative journalism, which is one of the brightest spots in Poland's democracy-building process of the last 17 years, into little more than a government bulletin that repeats the state line,'' he added.

Law and Justice has already stirred controversy by installing its allies to a powerful media watchdog, seeking a say on journalistic ethics and alleging that both private and public media are part of a corrupt ''network'' of ruling elites.

Gazeta Wyborcza, a leading daily, splashed the headline ''Revenge on Journalists'' across its front page, and heavyweight broadsheet Rzeczpospolita said the inquiry ''made no sense'' and might prove a fertile ground for insinuations and mud-slinging.

NO FIRE Foreign diplomats in Warsaw say they are watching whether press freedoms are at risk but say that there is ''no fire yet'', especially because of a high number of competing private media in the largest new European Union member.

''This probe will not help resolve anything because it has no focus but it will also be difficult to muzzle the media because there are too many independent players,'' said Milosz Marczuk, head of the Press Freedom Monitoring Centre.

The conservatives insist their party, rooted in the 1980s pro-democracy Solidarity movement, would not infringe on the freedom of the press they themselves helped to secure.

The conservatives have suggested that media criticism of their anti-corruption agenda is aimed at preserving a network of big business, secret services and political elites they say has ruled Poland since communism.

The investigation's mandate is to look into government investigations into journalists' activities, reporters' contracts with the secret services and sources of financing for the media between 1990 and 2006.

Law and Justice's plan has gained the initial backing of its fringe allies but still faces a vote in parliament.

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