Legal and financial considerations of national and ethnic minorities’ broadcasts in the public regional media

One of the fundamental duties of public media in Poland is to implement the so-called social mission, within which the media are obliged, among other things, to broadcast programs for national and ethnic minorities. The basis for undertaking by minorities any activities in broadcasting are legal and financial considerations, which are the main determinants of creating the programs and their broadcasting. In order to determine the legal conditions which guarantee broadcasting for minorities and in order to compare the number of broadcasts and related costs, the national law and documents of the National Broadcasting Council (KRRiT) were subjected to research analysis. In the analysis the following methods were applied: descriptive, comparative and statistical. They allowed to confirm the research hypothesis which assumes that the Polish state creates appropriate conditions for broadcasting for minorities, thanks to provisions of the law and funds transferred from subscriptions. However, equally important determinant in this field is the initiative and activity of the minority communities themselves, since according to KRRiT they are supposed to realize and run broadcasts for minorities.