Mr Krzysztof Klimaszewski, Director of the Economic Bureau of Polish Radio, Deputy Director Finance, Polish Radio, Member of British Alumni Society (BAS) and European Broadcasting Union.
Answers
- I think that the most important role of the media is to inform. As far as education is concerned, well, it depends on the type of media. Sometimes it is very difficult to say that the media should only inform, educate or entertain or, let's say, fulfil their own mission, because everything is connected with money, and relies on financial resources. Sometimes educating and informing may not seem popular because it is difficult to find a sponsor or advertiser for producing informative or educational programmes. Public media, like Polish Radio or Polish Television, are in a different situation because they get money from licence fees. The licence fee is a rather stable source of financing. Each year public broadcasters get a set amount of money to spend. There is a difference between the public and commercial media (our competition) in this respect. Commercial media is concerned with earning money. If they want to broadcast something, they have to obtain money for a programme. And fulfilling the function of informing and educating is not popular with them because they have to care about their selected target group: viewers or listeners, solely because of money. So, they only fulfil the entertainment function.
Currently in Poland we have a special audience. Most of us are tired after work and people look for light entertainment, usually very light music. Let's focus on the radio market. If you compare Polish Public Radio with one of the commercial stations, such as RMF or Radio Zet, you can see a big difference between their programme offer and ours. We have a lot of speech-based programmes, they have a lot of music for young people, young listeners, because if they start off with a targeted young audience between 18-30 or 35, they have advertising money to cover their expenses.
Each media type fulfils its own role depending on the sources of funding and legal regulations. For example, Polish Radio and Polish Television operate on the basis of the radio and television law, and according to the law we have to fulfil our public mission, for example, ensure equal access to different political parties. Other obligations are to educate and inform. Commercial media have different rights and roles. They have to make a profit - which is the most important thing. Although the law is the same for public and commercial media in terms of ethics and morality, commercial media don't have to give news about politics. Everything is connected with money. In the public media, the financial situation is not similar. TVP S.A. has thirty percent of their budget from the licence fee, the remaining seventy from commercial activities, advertising, etc. For Polish Public Radio the situation is just the opposite, 30 % is from commercial activities, 70 % is from the licence fee.
- Yes, of course. Let's take the example of Polish Radio. We have to care about, among other things, the Polish language, which should be very clear for all Polish citizens. There is a special committee - the National Broadcasting Council (KRRiT) - which controls standards, and abusive content or language. If we do something wrong we can be sure that our listeners or the Broadcasting Council will inform us. We answer our listeners' complaints in our broadcasts. We have public media standards. Let's take another example, every journalist has to take a special exam which is not maybe that popular among commercial media journalists.
- This is a very difficult question, because journalists are normal people and they are sometimes involved in different areas of life, also in political life. And sometimes it is very difficult for them to distinguish between their journalistic life and personal life. They should be objective and also the media should be objective but it's quite difficult even to monitor them.
- It's very difficult to compare all aspects of the activities of different media in Europe or around the world. Because, for example, The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) has a very different mission in the details. The definition of their public mission is different from ours. Poland is rather a small country in comparison with Canada. I spent a few weeks at the CBC. I agree that preparing a programme is the same everywhere, though of course technical equipment can be different. They are bigger than the Polish media but the job is the same, to find the most important subject and present it on air. The major difference is between the commercial and public media rather than more generally between the public media in different countries.
There is a big ‘boss’ in the European market: the BBC. They have a very good name and brand and they can operate like a big ship on a big ocean with all kinds of opportunities. They prepare very interesting programmes which may be attractive to many broadcasters and it's easier for them to earn money from this kind of activity. Last year I spent one week with the BBC observing how they worked. They have very interesting programmes about the environment. Nobody in Poland, I am sure, prepares this kind of television programme because it's too expensive. For the BBC it is easier to operate because they have a good, readily recognised name. If they prepare a very expensive programme, they have many customers they can sell the programme to.
- I think we need to distinguish between two kinds of censorship. In the past, we used to have one kind, now we have a different kind connected with standards in the public media. And it’s difficult to say whether this really is censorship control. Perhaps ‘supervising’ our audience's expectations and demands would be a better word to describe it. Everything is connected with the mission of the public media. It's very difficult to say there is censorship in the meaning it had in the past - limiting access to information or being selective. It's more to do with audience trends and our listeners.
- It depends on the time of the day. In the morning I like listening to the radio when I drive to work and I am hungry for news. The best start of the day is to know what happened yesterday and what's going on. In the evening when I sit in a comfortable chair with a cup of good coffee, I prefer reading newspapers. Now, even on the public radio, information is delivered very fast and the news is very short. It's connected with audience preferences and with the fact that now the pace of life is quicker than before. That's why people want the news in this way. In newspapers you have long detailed descriptions and if I want to learn more I prefer reading newspapers. Watching television is not important for me really, except for the main news programme on TVP 1 and sometimes the private commercial TV broadcaster TVN. But I suffer from lack of time all the time and it's difficult for me to find the time to watch a movie. I rather look for information in the media, and interesting programmes about, let's say, finance or economics, not really for entertainment.
My favourite newspapers are Gazeta Wyborcza and Rzeczpospolita because they publish financial information. I am Deputy Director of Finance and I need some fresh information from the financial market. Gazeta Wyborcza - because it’s the most popular daily paper in Poland and everybody reads it. As for radio programmes, I listen to Sygna³y Dnia (Program Pierwszy), which is the most popular among the Polish morning news programmes. People travel to work in the morning and they need information. Sygna³y Dnia is the most informative though perhaps a bit too talkative. But if I need information, I have to give up music. Sometimes I think they could broadcast more music.
I have no time to listen to other programmes. During the day I have to have the radio switched off because I need to focus on my work.
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