Georgette Mosbacher’s comment on Twitter came after she wrote a letter to Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki to express her “deep concern” over the reaction of Polish authorities to a disputed exposé aired by American-owned private Polish television broadcaster TVN.
Mosbacher said on Twitter on Wednesday that her priority was to deepen friendship between Warsaw and Washington.
She added that freedom of speech, freedom of the media and freedom of intellectual discourse were key American values.
Polish conservative weekly Do Rzeczy on Monday reported that Mosbacher had voiced criticism of an ongoing investigation into the exposé aired by TVN.
“I hope that members of your government will refrain from attacking, let alone prosecuting, independent journalists, who articulate public interests and strengthen our societies,” Mosbacher wrote in the letter, as revealed by Polish media.
Polish government spokeswoman Joanna Kopcińska said earlier on Wednesday that "in our opinion, diplomacy requires calm and prudence.”
Kopcińska also said that Poland and the United States enjoyed “very good relations” and that “one incident will not change this," state news agency PAP reported.
TVN broadcaster in January aired footage that appeared to show a group of neo-Nazis meeting in a forest in southern Poland and glorifying fascism while celebrating the anniversary of Hitler's birth.
The broadcaster said at the time that the footage was a result of its investigation into nationalist groups in Poland and included recordings of the Pride and Modernity organisation’s celebrations of Adolf Hitler’s birth anniversary in May 2017.
But conservative news website wpolityce.pl suggested this month that the infamous celebration was a staged event for which its organiser was paid PLN 20,000 [EUR 4,500, USD 5,300].
Stanisław Żaryn, a spokesman for Poland's security services chief, said on November 8 that testimony by a man detained in a probe contained a claim that the event dubbed by the media “the Hitler birthday party” was staged after it was “commissioned” by people unknown to him.
Meanwhile, broadcaster TVN denied paying money to the man detained in the probe “or anyone who participated in organising the Adolf Hitler birthday party."
The broadcaster, which is controlled by US company Discovery, suggested the detained man was lying.
Michał Dworczyk, head of the Polish Prime Minister's Office, said on Tuesday that law enforcers were being guided exclusively by the national interest as they probed the case.
(pk/gs)
Source: IAR