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Gazeta Wyborcza

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Gazeta Wyborcza
Front page of an April 2006 issue.
TypeDaily newspaper
FormatCompact
Owner(s)Agora SA
EditorAdam Michnik
Founded1989
Political alignmentSocial liberal
LanguagePolish
HeadquartersWarsaw
Circulation470,000
Websitewyborcza.pl

Gazeta Wyborcza (Polish pronunciation: [ɡaˈzɛta vɨˈbɔrtʂa] "Election Gazette") is Poland's second-largest daily newspaper (after the tabloid Fakt). It is considered to be one of the most influential and opinion-forming newspapers in Poland. [citation needed] It covers the gamut of political, international and general news. Like all the Polish newspapers, it is printed on compact-sized paper, and is published by the multimedia corporation Agora SA. The average circulation of the newspaper is 672,000. Sometimes is considered as tabloid. [1]

History of Gazeta Wyborcza

Origin

Gazeta Wyborcza began publication on May 8, 1989, under the rhyming masthead motto, "Nie ma wolności bez Solidarności" ("There's no freedom without Solidarity"). Its founding was an outcome of the Polish Round Table Agreement between the communist government of the People's Republic of Poland and political opponents centered around the Solidarity movement.

The paper was to serve as the voice of Solidarity during the run-up to semi-free elections to be held June 4, 1989 (hence its title). As such, it was the first legal newspaper published outside the communist government's control since its founding in the late 1940s.

The paper's editor-in-chief, since its founding, has been Adam Michnik. According to the editors, the first edition was small (150,000 copies) and relatively expensive due to the limited supplies of paper available from the state. A year and a half later, the daily run had reached 500,000 copies. In September 1990, during the acrimonious breakup of the Solidarity camp following the collapse of the communist government, Lech Wałęsa revoked the paper's right to use the Solidarity logo on its masthead. Since then, Gazeta Wyborcza has been a fully independent newspaper which generally supports liberal values. Gazeta Wyborcza is now a massive multi-section daily newspaper. The paper publishes daily local editions for the following cities: Warsaw, Białystok, Bydgoszcz, Częstochowa, Gdańsk, Gorzów Wielkopolski, Katowice, Kraków, Kielce, Lublin, Łódź, Olsztyn, Opole, Płock, Poznań, Radom, Rzeszów, Szczecin, Toruń, Wrocław and Zielona Góra. Average circulation is 672,000.

The Rywin affair

In 2003, Lew Rywin, a prominent film producer, was accused by Gazeta Wyborcza of attempted bribery when he allegedly solicited a bribe of $17.5 million from editor Adam Michnik in exchange for amendments to a media bill. The adoption of the bill in its original form proposed by the government would have prevented Agora S.A. from buying Polsat, one of Polish private TV stations. This case, called the Rywin affair, led to the establishment of an investigation commission by the Polish Parliament. Consequently, Lew Rywin was sentenced for attempting to influence the parliamentary legislative process in a way that would enable a Polish media company to buy a television station. Furthermore, the controversial draft act was rejected by the Polish Parliament.

Criticism

Gazeta Wyborcza has been criticized for distorted coverage of controversial issues such as post-communist vetting, Polish-Jewish relations and the Polish minority in Lithuania.[2] It has also received criticism for using its influence to whitewash former communists, particularly General Jaruzelski.[3] After the fall of communism, the paper was criticized for taking part in an "intensive propaganda campaign" and particularly for rigorously trying to revamp Jaruzelski's image.[4]

In April, 2006, leading Polish essayist Stanisław Michalkiewicz responded to a controversy about Radio Maryja by calling Gazeta Wyborcza "an unusual example of the Jewish fifth column in Poland" and "a Jewish newspaper for Poles". [5].

Notable Journalists

  • Anna Bikont
  • Seweryn Blumsztajn
  • Artur Domosławski
  • Witold Gadomski
  • Wojciech Jagielski
  • Andrzej Jagodziński
  • Włodzimierz Kalicki
  • Agnieszka Kublik
  • Jarosław Kurski
  • Adam Leszczyński
  • Mikołaj Lizut
  • Helena Łuczywo
  • Ewa Milewicz
  • Paweł Mossakowski
  • Agata Nowakowska
  • Wojciech Orliński
  • Lidia Ostałowska
  • Piotr Pacewicz
  • Roman Pawłowski
  • Paweł Smoleński
  • Tadeusz Sobolewski
  • Piotr Stasiński
  • Katarzyna Surmiak-Domańska
  • Jacek Szczerba
  • Joanna Szczęsna
  • Mariusz Szczygieł
  • Wojciech Tochman
  • Jan Turnau
  • Adam Wajrak
  • Bartosz Węglarczyk
  • Dominika Wielowieyska
  • Artur Włodarski
  • Paweł Wroński
  • Sławomir Zagórski

Columnists

Gazeta today

Weekly extra sections

Gazeta Praca (classified job advertisements, salary lists, Mondays), Gazeta Sport (Mondays), Komunikaty (properties classifieds, Tuesdays), Gazeta Dom (building and furnishing, Wednesdays), Duży Format (reportages, Thursdays), Gazeta Telewizyjna (TV programmes, Fridays), Gazeta Co Jest Grane (cinema and theatre repertoires, film and book reviews, music events, Fridays), Gazeta Turystyka (travelling extra, Saturdays) and Wysokie Obcasy (women's extra, Saturdays, since April 1999).

Special Bollywood promotion

Gazeta Wyborcza started offering a Bollywood DVD film every Saturday at a concessional price to its readers. If one buys Gazeta Wyborcza’s weekend issue and pays the equivalent of $2.50 extra, one can take home a Bollywood film with Polish subtitles. The result: sales of the paper goes up by 50,000 copies.

Web presence

The online edition of Gazeta Wyborcza is one of the sections of the portal Gazeta.pl. The paid electronic version of the newspaper is an option. The website wyborcza.pl has been expanded through rankings of articles which are most frequently read and commented on. It presents Polish and global history on most notable covers of Gazeta Wyborcza. Beside analogue sections from the paper edition, the website also provides a feedback section which allows the readers to contact the editorial staff and express opinions).

The paper's website links to Gazeta's journalists' blogs, including the ones by: Ewa Milewicz, Dominika Wielowieyska, Jan Turnau, Bartosz Węglarczyk and Wojciech Orliński. The number of journalists who write blogs is constantly increasing.

See also

References

  1. ^ Cathie Burton, Alun Drake, Hitting the headlines in Europe: a country-by-country guide to effective media relations, 2004, ISBN 0749442263
  2. ^ The press in Poland BBC News
  3. ^ Radek Sikorski. Lack of solidarity - Poland's political problems. National Review, Oct 18, 1993.
  4. ^ Voytek Zubek. The Reassertion of the Left in Post-Communist Poland. Europe-Asia Studies, Vol. 46, No. 5 (1994), pp. 818.
  5. ^ Sunday - Catholic Magazine
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