PROTEST OF ARCHBISHOP WACŁAW DEPO CONCERNING THE TV ADVERTISEMENT SPOT ‘THE CLOSEST STRANGERS’

In relation to the transmission of the advertisement spot on TV ‘The closest strangers’, promoting homosexuality, archbishop Wacław Depo, the Chair of the Polish Episcopal Conference for Mass Media, addressed a letter to Jan Dworak, the Chair of the Radio Broadcasting Council on 31 October 2014. He noted in the letter that the advertisement spot breaches provisions of the Polish law. Here is the text of the protest of archbishop Wacław Depo:

In relation to starting broadcasting the advertisement spot on TVP ‘The closest strangers’, the Polish Episcopal Conference for Mass Media enters in protest against its promotion, considering it as incompatible with law. Broadcasting the advertisement spot in the public television promoting homosexual relations weakens the position of marriage and family whose protection is guaranteed by the Constitution of the Polish Republic. Moreover, the content included in the advertisement spot are the breach of the Act about broadcasting, which states that there is a duty of respecting religious beliefs of recipients, especially the Christian system of values. According to this Act programmes and other services should respect the Christian system of values and serve to strengthening family.

The broadcasting of the advertisement spot promoting homosexuality breaches in particular:

1. Art.18 of the Constitution of the Polish Republic: ‘Marriage as a relationship between a woman and a man, family and motherhood and parenthood are under protection and care of the Polish Republic’;

2. The Act of 29 December 1992 about broadcasting: - art. 18 section.1: ‘Radio programmes and other transmissions cannot promote actions contradictory with law, the Polish raison d’etat and attitudes and opinions contradictory with morality and the social good, especially they cannot involve content calling for hatred or discriminating because of race, disability, sex, religion or nationality; - art.18 section 2: ‘Radio programmes or other transmissions should respect religious beliefs of recipients, especially the Christian system of values’; - art.21 section 2 par. 6 and 7: ‘Programmes and other services [should]: 6) respect the Christian system of values, acknowledging universal principles of ethics as the base; 7)serve to strengthening family’.

Campaign on channels of TVP does not meet the demands of the social campaign about which it states:

3. The appendix to the Resolution No. 227/2012 of the Management Board of the TVP S.A. Company of 25 April 2012, §2 section 4, which says: ‘Social campaign [is] information whose purpose is promoting socially useful actions of an organization of public avail run within the activity royalty-free in the sphere of public duties which are mentioned in the art. 4 of the Act’ [that is, the Act of 24 April 2003 about the activity of the public avail and volunteering (Journal of Acts of 2010, No. 234, pos. 1536, with later changes), whose art.4 does not mention homosexual relationships among public duties].

Polish Episcopal Conference Council for Mass Media also notes that it is necessary to distinguish between tolerance and promotion – in case of the above mentioned advertisement spot here we deal with promotion of homosexuality and homosexual relationships.

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„Niedziela” 46/2014

Editor: Tygodnik Katolicki "Niedziela", ul. 3 Maja 12, 42-200 Czestochowa, Polska
Editor-in-chief: Fr Jaroslaw Grabowski • E-mail: redakcja@niedziela.pl