Media

Poland has instituted freedom of press since the fall of communism, a system under which the media was heavily politically controlled and censored. However, public TV and radio are still regulated by the government, this is exercised through an agency called Krajowa Rada Radiofonii i Telewizji (The National Radio and Television Committee), which is similar to television regulatory commissions in other developed nations.

Poland has a number of major media outlets, chief amongst which are the national television channels. TVP is Poland's public broadcasting corporation; about a third of its income comes from a broadcast receiver licence, while the rest is made through revenue from commercials and sponsorships. State television operates two mainstream channels, TVP 1 and TVP 2, as well as regional programs for each of the country's 16 voivodeships.

 In addition to these general channels, TVP runs a number of genre-specific programmes such as TVP Sport and TVP Historia; there are currently plans to run channels dedicated to the coverage of political affairs (TVP Parliament) and entertainment (TVP Rozrywka).

Poland has a number of internationally broadcast and 24 hour news channels, chief amongst which are TVN 24, and TV Polonia, the latter is a state-run channel dedicated to the transmission of Polish language television for the Polish diaspora abroad. There are a number of major private television outlets such as Polsat and the TVN network.

Poland has a highly developed printed news industry, with daily newspapers like Gazeta Wyborcza (The Electoral Gazette) and Rzeczpospolita (The Republic) providing more traditional, intellectually stimulating reporting and tabloids such as Fakt providing more sensationalist writing which is less current affairs orientated. Rzeczpospolita is one of the nation's oldest publications still in operation today, founded in 1920, it has become a stalwart bastion of Polish reporting and in 2006 won a prestigious award for being, along with the Guardian (a British daily), the best designed newspaper in the world.