# Poland

Government actions against journalists in Poland

[RSF 2026 rank: 27th of 180](https://rsf.org/en/index). World Press Freedom Index of Reporters Without Borders (RSF); rank 1 is the freest.

The number of entries reflects the depth of this record, not the severity of a country's conduct.

Poland is in Eastern Europe, Europe. The record holds 2 incidents in which the government of Poland, or an official, court or legislature there, limited journalists' ability to report.

## Tactics used

- [Detention and violence: 1](https://thewaronnews.com/incidents?country=PL&tactic=detention_and_violence), ladder: https://thewaronnews.com/ladders/detention_and_violence
- [Funding and ownership pressure: 1](https://thewaronnews.com/incidents?country=PL&tactic=funding_and_ownership_pressure), ladder: https://thewaronnews.com/ladders/funding_and_ownership_pressure
- [Shutdowns and blocking: 1](https://thewaronnews.com/incidents?country=PL&tactic=shutdowns_and_blocking), ladder: https://thewaronnews.com/ladders/shutdowns_and_blocking

## Heads of government at the time

- [Beata Szydlo: 1 incident](https://thewaronnews.com/leaders/beata-szydlo)
- [Wojciech Jaruzelski: 1 incident](https://thewaronnews.com/leaders/wojciech-jaruzelski)

## Incidents by year

### 2015

| Date | Incident | Tactic | Stage | Head of government | Outcome |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| December 31, 2015 | [Poland's new government gains power to replace public broadcaster leadership, and journalists are dismissed](https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2015-poland-public-media-law-firings) | [Funding and ownership pressure](https://thewaronnews.com/tactics/funding_and_ownership_pressure) | Pressure | [Beata Szydlo](https://thewaronnews.com/leaders/beata-szydlo) | Sustained (December 31, 2019) |

### 1981

| Date | Incident | Tactic | Stage | Head of government | Outcome |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| December 13, 1981 | [Poland's martial law government shuts nearly all newspapers and interns journalists overnight](https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/1981-poland-martial-law-press-suspended) | [Shutdowns and blocking](https://thewaronnews.com/tactics/shutdowns_and_blocking) | Silence | [Wojciech Jaruzelski](https://thewaronnews.com/leaders/wojciech-jaruzelski) | Reversed (July 22, 1983) |

Ladders: https://thewaronnews.com/ladders. Timeline: https://thewaronnews.com/timeline/country/pl.

Download incidents in Poland. CSV, JSON or Markdown. CC BY 4.0; credit "The War On News, thewaronnews.com".
- CSV: https://thewaronnews.com/countries/pl?format=csv
- JSON: https://thewaronnews.com/countries/pl.json
- Markdown: https://thewaronnews.com/countries/pl.md

Source page: https://thewaronnews.com/countries/pl. The War On News, CC BY 4.0.