A member of the photo staff of independent daily newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza works at a computer in the Wyborcza newsroom on February 26, 2016 in Warsaw | Sean Gallup/Getty Images Poland’s PiS aims to regulate journalists after election The government aims to create a ‘new media order.’

Poland’s ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party wants to regulate the status of the country’s journalists, in a move that the opposition is calling an assault on democratic freedoms.

The new rules are part of a 232-page party manifesto published last weekend in preparation for the October 13 general election that PiS looks very likely to win.

The main aim of the new law would be to create a "self-government" body to ensure ethical and professional standards among journalists, to self-regulate the sector and to educate young reporters. The document also says that the new law would “by no means limit the principle of openness of the journalistic craft” and that its introduction would be preceded by a series of consultations.

According to the manifesto, the party also aims to create a "new media order” based on the public media — television, radio and news agency.

Radosław Fogiel, the party's deputy spokesperson, said that the idea was driven by the fact that journalism is "a profession of public trust, which has a big impact in shaping attitudes and social decisions.” He told reporters that the proposed self-government would be run by journalists and modeled on similar bodies for lawyers.

But the opposition says the idea of regulating journalists is a PiS attempt to limit checks and balances on the government's actions.

“The journalism profession has been indeed regulated in Poland. It was regulated during communism. Journalists are regulated in many countries, for example in Belarus,” Cezary Tomczyk, an MP from the opposition Civic Platfrom party, said at a press conference.

Krzysztof Skowroński, the head of the pro-government Polish Journalists’ Association, told POLITICO that it’s hard to make any comments about the new idea, as very few details are known.

“It’s obvious that independence and free speech would have to be a basis of new rules,” he said. “But I’m skeptical about [creating] a new law and any definition.”

He said his association will take active part in public consultations to ensure that “journalistic independence won't be compromised, on purpose or by mistake.”

Since PiS came to power in 2015 the party has tightened its grip on the public media, and slashed advertising from state companies to media outlets critical of the government.

In the 2019 edition of the World Press Freedom index, Poland slumped to 59th place among 180 countries, down from 18th place in 2015.

"The public media have been renamed 'national media' and have been transformed into government propaganda mouthpieces,” said the World Press Freedom report.

Another ranking by Freedom House, a U.S.-based NGO, downgraded Poland in 2017 from free to partly free "due to government intolerance toward independent or critical reporting."

Hungary, which ranks even lower than Poland in the World Press Freedom report, has an extensive system of regulation for its journalists.