Poland

[PL] Financial Penalty concerning “Big Brother”-format

IRIS 2001-10:1/19

Hanna Jedras

Dept. of European Integration and International Relations National Broadcasting Council of Poland

The Chairman of the National Broadcasting Council has fined Polish licensee Polskie Media S.A. PLN 200.000 (EUR 54 880.22) for breaches of Art. 18 para. 5 of the Broadcasting Act as well as para. 1.2 and para. 2.2 of the Regulation of the National broadcasting Council (NBC) "concerning the special rules for transmitting broadcasts that may threaten the psychological, emotional or physical development of children and teenagers by radio and television programme services". In his Decision of 4 October 2001 the Chairman stated that TV4, a channel that broadcasts a reality show "Gladiators", an adaptation of the "Big Brother" programme, on 21 September at 18:58h showed a very controversial episode, which was contrary to the standards relating to the protection of minors enshrined in the respective legal provisions. As was pointed out in the attached judgment, objections should be raised to the unacceptable and distorted portrayal of relations between men and women, especially in reference to those depicting norms of sexual behaviour. It was also found that the programme in question contained obscenity and offensive words. On the basis of an in-depth analysis, the Chairman of the NBC decided that the editorial attitude of the station towards the content of the episode of "Gladiators" was highly negligent, taking into account the transmission time. According to aforementioned Art. 18 par. 5 Broadcasting Act "[p]rogrammes or other items which may threaten the physical, mental or moral development(...) may not be transmitted between 6:00h and 23:00h.".

The penalty imposed on Polskie Media S.A. should be paid to the NBC within 14 days from delivery of the Decision.