She considered herself a pupil of Jacek Kuroń, and argues that transparency and skill in making collective decision-making was a key political tactic used by opposition to the government of the time.

Chmiel remembered Jarosław Kaczyński as having "always voted against human rights and against democratic opposition's view of a state ruled by law" during the Round Table Agreement negotiations.

[1] In 2016, when Citizens of Culture was one of the co-founders of the Citizens' Pact for Public Media (Polish: Obywatelski Pakt na Rzecz Mediów Publicznych), Chmiel stated that new laws on public media created by the government at the time "only changed the people in power in executive boards and is a return to the times of the Polish People's Republic, when the president of the Radio Committee was chosen by and directly controlled by the government."

[7] Chmiel said that those who signed the Citizens' Pact had fought for six years "for independent and strong public media, strong in their mission, both financially and as an institution" and that public media should support artists, popularise culture, equalise access to education and culture and support reading.

[8] Chmiel stated in May 2020 that the problems of Polish public media predated the 2016 appointment of Jacek Kurski as head of Telewizja Polska.