WARSAW, Poland—Poland President Andrzej Duda has vetoed a controversial media measure that would have forced U.S. company Discovery to give up its controlling stake in Polish television network TVN, with the president acknowledging the free speech concerns of the legislation’s opponents and suggesting that it would have strained relations with the United States, a key Warsaw ally.
Duda said at a Dec. 27 press conference in Warsaw that while he backs future legislation that would curb the ability of foreign capital to control Polish media outlets, the current measure’s retroactive effect would be unfair to investors and would violate a U.S.–Poland trade treaty signed in the 1990s.
