Poland – totalitarians tightening their grip

Poland is heading towards another battle over EU values with a proposed tax on media advertising being seen as the latest in a series of steps by the ruling conservative party with strong ties to the influential Catholic Church, to curb independent journalism. Since the Law and Order Party (PiS) took office in 2015, Poland has tumbled from 18th to 62nd place in the World Press Freedom Index — below Niger and Armenia. And there have been other EU conflicts over sweeping changes to the judic