Sejm bars wPolsce24 reporter Samuel Pereira for three months, PiS calls it press repression

Three-month ban and refused press card

The Sejm has barred Samuel Pereira, a reporter for the right-leaning channel wPolsce24, from entering the parliament building for three months, counting from 30 October. Pereira says the ban came from Marshal Włodzimierz Czarzasty, and he shared a Chancellery email, received by another journalist, that gives the same start date. On 4 November the Marshal's Guard refused to issue him a one-time press card, citing a 22 October incident and the Marshal's ordinance of 9 January 2008. The letter, conveyed by Andrzej Czarnota, says Pereira may ask for reconsideration within seven days of delivery. Articles do not report whether he has filed such a request.

The incident with Paweł Śliz

The letter ties the ban to a 22 October incident in which Pereira again disrupted the remarks of Paweł Śliz, an MP from Polska 2050, and blocked the MP's access to club rooms. Reports say he first talked over the MP's comments to other media, then followed him through a corridor. A recording posted on X by wPolsce24 editor Marek Pyza shows Pereira asking Śliz about threats by Roman Giertych that there will be no budget from January. Śliz refuses to answer and pushes the microphone aside with his hand. Pereira's words on the recording were:

“I am asking you at this moment, please do not turn away, it is rude of you.”

Karnowski called the incident a trivial clash and accused Śliz of filing a complaint that led to the ban.

Reactions from PiS, press groups and wPolsce24

PiS spokesman Rafał Bochenek, speaking at a press conference in the Sejm on 6 November, said the Marshal was restricting access for critical media step by step. He linked the Pereira case to that of Miłosz Kłeczek, a TV Republika reporter whose access was restricted at the end of September by Sejm Chancellery head Marek Siwiec. Bochenek said:

“Step by step, day by day, access for journalists from free, independent media is being restricted.”

On air, Karnowski demanded an explanation and restored access for Pereira, describing him as an experienced reporter who regularly works in the Sejm. He said:

“This is simply political repression.”

The SDP's Press Freedom Monitoring Centre (Centrum Monitoringu Wolności Prasy) firmly protested what it called an unlawful and arbitrary bar, and its letter spoke of inconvenient journalists and preventive censorship. Krzysztof Stanowski, founder of Kanał Zero, defended Pereira and contrasted the three-month ban with Wojciech Czuchnowski's alleged physical attack on PiS MP Dariusz Matecki. Articles also note that after an earlier Sejm incident involving a Gazeta Wyborcza journalist and Matecki, access was suspended for two months.

Procedure and open questions

When Pereira went to the Sejm press pass office on the morning of 4 November, staff said they had received instructions from the Media Service Office (Biuro Obsługi Mediów) not to admit him. They declined to say who had issued the decision. No legal basis or written justification was given at the counter. Pereira has worked with wPolsce24 since September 2024 and earlier served as deputy director of the Telewizyjna Agencja Informacyjna under the PiS government, where he was responsible for TVP Info.