Media Studies vol.2.pdf

7/29/2019 Media Studies vol.2.pdf

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in POLANDat the Turn of the CenturyMEDIA STUDIES


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ISBN: 978-83-86466-77-4


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Wydawnictwo Skorpion

Warszawa 2011


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redakcja / edited by

ukasz Szurmiski

tumaczenie / translated by

Anna Komorowska

projekt okadki / cover design

Adam Bremer, Activa Studio

skad i opracowanie grafczne / typeset and graphic design

Jdrzej o, Activa Studio

Publikacja snansowana przez

Ministerstwo Nauki i Szkolnictwa Wyszego


Instytut Dziennikarstwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego


Warszawa 2011

ISBN: 978-83-86466-77-4


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ukasz Szurmiski

Institute of Journalism

Faculty of Journalism and Political Science

University of Warsaw

New Trends and New Phenomena

in the Polish Media Market

When in 1989, discussions on the unctioning o the social means o

mass communication in the newly emerged situation were held, none o

the participants could even anticipate how ar the solutions promoted

then would evolve.

However, both parties ully realised that the possession o the

media, control over them and the ability to communicate with the

public through them are indispensable prerequisites or obtaining social

support. Moreover, upon the inauguration o the negotiations within

working groups dealing with the media, representatives o the oppo-

sition clearly pointed out that, without reaching a consensus on thisparticular issue, it would be dicult to expect an agreement in other

areas.1 Tereore, Solidarity demanded access to the media, including

newsprint and access to television. Specic postulates then voiced are

as ollows:

1

. Goban-Klas: Niepokorna orkiestra medialna. Dyrygenci i wykonawcy politykiinormacyjnej w Polsce po 1989 roku. Warsaw 2004, p. 276.


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136 MEDIA SYSTEMS

l opposition access to radio and television,

l equitable distribution o newsprint,

l consent or and allocation o a certain amount o newsprint to Solidaritys

new publications o a nationwide and regional reach

l legalisation o underground publications,

l liberalisation o laws regulating the operation o censorship,

l waiver o the requirement to obtain a licence or publishing activities,

l reinstatement o people dismissed ater martial law had been declared;

condemnation and departure rom the practice o dismissing journalists

or political reasons,l ban on the confscation o oreign publications by customs.2

Proessor . Goban-Klas emphasises, and he is right in this respect,

that the relevance o the postulates uttered varied considerably and the

opposition party assumed in advance that the government (or the coali-

tion) would disapprove o part o the demands. Solidaritys insistence

to take over one television channel and one radio channel was rejected

as being unrealistic. Furthermore, aware o the impact o television, the

government reused Solidaritys proposal concerning presenting their

own hal-hour programmes within the time slots scheduled or the

opposition. In the end, Solidarity gained the opportunity to present

their thirty-minute programmes once a week, though it was subject to

censorship.3

I we consider the demands o Solidarity rom the contemporary

perspective and the way Polish media system looks like nowadays, theneven not a very penetrating observer may be astounded by the change

that has occurred in this sphere o socio-political lie. According to

Stanisaw Mock, these changes are o a twoold nature. Firstly, as it

has already been outlined in the introduction, they resulted rom the

systemic transormation and democratic transition in Poland. Tus,

2

Ibidem, p. 277.3. Goban-Klas, op. cit., p. 279.


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137New Trends and New Phenomena in the Polish Media Market

they were structural changes that involved, inter alia, the introduc-

tion o reedom o expression, decentralisation and privatisation o the

media. Other changes stemmed rom technological and globalisational

variations, which have promoted new means o communication and

unknown ways o using global inormation resources.4 Finally, global

trends in the media such as tabloidisation, strict segmentation o read-

ers and unication o diferent categories o the media deserve to be

mentioned here as well.

Te very phenomenon o evolution should not be surprising as each

o the media systems evolves; whether it is Britain, the United States,France or Russia, the media market is subject to continuous alterations.

However, the questions whether or not these changes are acceptable to

citizens, whether the change occurring within the media ollows the de-

sired direction and whether it improves the media seem to be o higher

importance. Unortunately, it appears to me that, even though the very

process o evolution o the Polish media is impossible to deny, it is much

more dicult to prove that it is benecial to average recipients.

Changes arising fromthe systemic transformation

Developments in this area resulted in the creation o the electronic me-

dia market regulator the National Broadcasting Council, established

by the Act o 29 December 1992. It would be a truism to state that it isineasible to institute such process o appointing members o this body

that would completely separate them rom political pressures o their

superiors. Unortunately, we ace an ever-growing process o politicisa-

tion o this institution in Poland, what, in turn, leads to an immense

lowering o its prestige. It afects primarily the public broadcaster which

should serve its audience through carrying out the entrusted mission;

4 S. Mocek: Dziennikarze po komunizmie. Warsaw 2006., pp. 9394.


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138 MEDIA SYSTEMS

it should be noted though that this mission is at times dicult to

dene.5 However, the division into us and they, generally reecting

a purely political sphere, can be observed in these media. Proessor

Maciej Mrozowski, when making a brie comparison o the public

media shortcomings, also indicates the closing o the world o poli-

tics to society, lack o civic debate and deciencies in the eld o civic

education, insucient concern or providing the public with patterns

o social adaptation, insucient ideological openness and juxtaposing

high culture with mass culture.6 It should be pointed out at this point

that, although in such countries as Britain and Germany, politiciansexert a proound inuence on appointing supervisory boards or other

bodies controlling the public media, it does not translate directly into

a visible inuence o politicians on the current unctioning o the

media in neither o these states.7 As Katarzyna Pokorna-Ignatowicz,

researcher o the Polish media system asserts, the Polish political class

should be expected to change its approach towards the public media

and their role in a democratic society in general; above all, politicians

need to understand what the control over the public media entails.

Politicians have not yet realised the importance o the public media

to the national discourse on issues socially relevant. Te above is best

epitomised by the manner in which public television was managed by

Wiesaw Walendziak, Ryszard Miazek, Robert Kwiatkowski, Bronisaw

Wildstein and Andrzej Urbaski. Each successive chairman o public

5A wide range o viewpoints concerning the unctioning o the public media

in various countries is presented in the work o Karol Jakubowicz See: K. Jakubowicz:

Media publiczne. Pocztek koca czy nowy pocztek. Warsaw 2007.6 M. Mrozowski: [no title] debate on the public media, [in:] Rynek audiowiz-

ualny w Polsce. Ocena i perspektywy, ed. by J. Adamowski, pp. 2024. C.: K. Pokorna-

Ignatowicz: Spr polityczny wok telewizji Polskiej, [in:] Media, wadza, prawo, ed. by

M. Magoska, Krakw 2005, pp. 4157.7 K. Konarska: System mediw elektronicznych w Wielkiej Brytanii. oru 2006,

pp. 150160; J. Adamowski, E. Stasiak-Jazukiewicz, B. Golka: Wybrane zagranicznesystemy inormacji masowej. Warsaw 1996, pp. 138139.


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television only to a lesser extent o public radio enhances the process

o politicisation o the public media.8

Another element closely related to the systemic transition was the

privatisation process launched on 22 March 1990 when the Law on

the Liquidation o RSW (Robotnicza Spdzielnia Wydawnicza the

Workers Cooperative Publishing House) was adopted. Te process o

privatisation was to encompass more than 240 press titles as this was

what the company owned at that time. Nevertheless, the total o about

80 press titles were sold, 6 were handed down without announcing

a tender and 70 journalistic cooperatives, comprising various editorialboards, were created. A considerable part o the mentioned magazines

either ceased to exist very quickly or were transerred to other pub-

lishers such as, investing in Poland since the early 1990s, Polskapresse

(1994) and Orkla (1990). Tus, the original assumptions o creating

a wide range o press titles uniting local communities did not eventually

nd their reection in reality. Tough it is true that the extent o the

transormation process in Poland was not as substantial as in Hungary

where approximately 90% o press titles were taken over by the oreign,

mainly German, capital in the ace o initial assumptions, however,

this process can be hardly regarded as successul; especially in the light

o the act that Polskapresse signicantly limited the average readers

possibility o choice in some cities as it attempted to take over certain

press titles in order to merge or close them later (mergers involved the

ollowing press titles: Dziennik dzki + Wiadomoci Dnia in d,

Sowo Polskie+ Gazeta Wrocawska+ Wieczr Wrocawiain Wrocaw andWieczr Wybrzea+ Dziennik Batyckiin Gdask).

Te two aorementioned processes, namely the politicisation and

privatisation o the media, have seriously afected the local and regional

press, where the cooperation between local authorities and editorial o-

ces, instead o being based on the model o independence or at least

8 Katarzyna Pokorna-Ignatowicz widely discusses the phenomenon o VP

changing its political preerences whenever a new chairman is appointed. See:K. Pokorna-Ignatowicz, op. cit., pp. 5455.


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140 MEDIA SYSTEMS

partnership, resembles the instructional and supervisory model which

allows policy makers to treat the local newspaper as one o the sel-

government bodies. In the case when external pressures and political

suggestions are reluctantly accepted by the editorial board, the publisher

may ace harassment (e.g. terminating tenancy) or the authorities create

their own press title.

Changes related to global trends in the media

As or the processes associated with global trends, which should prob-

ably raise concern among the readers o newspapers, the incessant

tabloidisation and the ensuing aggressive ght or the reader should be

mentioned in the rst place. Obviously, it does not involve merely the

process o the ormat change. Te latter is, in act, quite common and

occurs rather without the loss o quality as it is evidenced by the changes

that have recently afected such respected journals as British Te imes,

Te Independent, German Die Weltor French Le Figaro. Such change is

also being prepared by the editorial board o the daily Rzeczpospolita

(change planned or 15 October this year); however, as the experience o

the above mentioned press titles shows, the change rom the broadsheet

to compact ormat brings more gains than losses.9

Te process o tabloidisation o magazines regarded as opinion-

orming that involves attering less sophisticated tastes o readers

should raise some concern. Tis includes, among others, publishingsensational inormation (requently unveried) and likewise titles, oust-

ing investigative journalism rom the opinion-orming press (because

it is labour- and time-consuming and requires substantial nancial

outlays), rejecting long journalistic orms in avour o concise inorma-

tion (it is enough to compare, or instance, the layout and content o

9 Rzeczpospolita, jak Te imes, Wirtualne Media, 25 September 2007, http://

www.wirtualnemedia.pl/art ic le/250135_Rzeczpospolita_jak_he_imes.htm(28.09.2007); S. Kucharski: Wiksza, bo mniejsza, Press2007, No. 10, p. 6.


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Gazeta Wyborczaor Rzeczpospolitao the second hal o the 1990s with

their contemporary versions). Unortunately, a similar process applies to

opinion weeklies although, in this case, it is not particularly perceptible.

abloidisation is accompanied by an aggressive ght or the reader

supported by marketing and editorial tricks or gadgets. It is increasingly

dicult to nd an inuential daily or weekly in Poland which does

not apply at least one o these orms o sales promotion. Even though

using these orms o promotion helps maintain the expected circulation

and sales, it unortunately causes a strong decline in prestige as such

methods o competition or customers migrated to the market o opin-ion-orming press titles rom the glossy magazines market. Tereore,

newspapers and weeklies shed leaets, advertising brochures, dozens

o thematic supplements; every other newspaper is sold with a book,

encyclopaedia or DVDs. Te question thus arises whether people will

stop buying newspapers i, one day, publishers discontinue inserting all

these extras into their newspapers?

Another issue worth raising, when discussing the media transor-

mation relating to global trends, is the unication o the media belong-

ing to diferent categories. Tis unication is understood as a process in

which press releases become shorter and more inormative, though less

analytical whereas television becomes to a greater extent only a news-

paper with pictures since, ater reading the morning newspaper, it is

possible to predict with a high degree o certainty what inormation

will appear in the evening television news programmes and a more

discerning media expert will be even able to indicate the order o theirpresentation in the electronic media unless, o course, anything spec-

tacular happens in the course o the day. Hence, instead o carrying out

the mission o delivering a thorough description o the reality, newspa-

pers are simply becoming providers o news or television.

In this context, a considerable process o change can also be

observed in the printed press as it is evidenced by the attitude o in-

vestigative journalists. At least thrice, it turned out that the basis or

writing an article was an audio or video recording. Recordings which


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142 MEDIA SYSTEMS

aroused great interest included notably the conversation between Adam

Michnik and Lew Rywin as well as the one between Renata Beger and

Adam Lipiski. Te recording conrming that Renata Beger was buy-

ing votes rom Renata Jankowiak, a local activist o the Sel-Deence

triggered a little lesser scandal. In the rst two cases, recordings led to

journalistic investigations and even the appointment o the Sejm inves-

tigative committees. Te third material was a little more controversial

due to the ambiguous guilt o the main protagonist and the absence o

an extensive journalistic investigation. Notwithstanding, the recorded

materials began to live their own lives, they were commonly used by theelectronic media; Agora used them also on its website where the videos

o recorded conversations can be viewed even today.10 Nonetheless, it

does not change the act that among certain journalists, not only press

reporters, the practice o secretly recording interviewees raises, i not

dislike, then at least moral doubts what was highlighted by omasz Lis

or investigative journalists Cezary ukaszewicz (Polityka) and Maciej

Duda (Newsweek Polska).11

Te issue o the proceeding erosion o the radios inormative unc-

tion is o the radio is o secondary importance in this context, though

not less irritating. At the moment, radio has lost contact with listeners

ofering them mainly popular music instead o a spoken word; addition-

ally, music is requently ormatted in the same way in most o the sta-

tions. In-depth inormation and reportage as well as intelligent music

and individually designed programmes disappear rom radio stations.

Te nal issue concerns segmentation and diferent approaches othe publisher and the reader to the same press title. It is reected in the

act thatpublishers consider their product in terms o the type o inormation

10 D. Uhlig: Jak Lipiski przekonywa Beger do wejcia do PIS, Gazeta Wyborcza,

26 September 2006, http://wiadomosci.gazeta.pl/wiadomosci/1,53600,3646253.

html; M. Kcki, M. Kopiski: Jak Renata Beger podpisy kupowaa, Gazeta Wyborcza,

28 September 2007, http://www.gazetawyborcza.pl/1,75478,4528083.html (22.10.2007).11

For urther reerence, please see: M. Wyszyska: Odpali pocisk, Press, No. 10,pp. 3840.


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contained therein, thematic areas, the scope o circulation (...) while consumers

perceive and rank titles by values they provide and unctions they perorm.12

Furthermore, all the above-mentioned changes, with particular reer-

ence to technological changes, have led to a situation in which the thesis

that the daily press provides inormation says little about this medium.

Inormation, as it has already been said, is also provided by both televi-

sion and Internet services, and the latter oten publish in-depth analyses

which appear in the daily press less requently. Tus, what determines

the act that people still want to buy newspapers? It seems that social

unctions which the press ulls can be identied at this point. Te needor prestige and recognition, emphasising social position and also, not

less important, desire to create social ties impel readers to purchase daily

newspapers despite all these contraindications.

Finally, yet another issue that, this time, relates to the journalis-

tic community itsel should be mentioned. In recent years, it is airly

common to say that, approximately since the so-called Rywin afair,

the journalistic community has been heavily divided and the Law and

Justice Partys rise to power even strengthened these divisions or vari-

ous reasons. Insoar as it may be true when it comes to certain inten-

sication o atomisational processes within the community, it is worth

remembering that ater 1989, journalistic circles have been united only

at very ew moments while actually remaining divided. It is evidenced

by the existence o several journalistic associations which, as a result o

historical turmoil, have not developed a liking or one another. Tus,

the ollowing can be identied: the Polish Journalists Associationcooperating with the Media Ethics Council, the Association o

Journalists o the Republic o Poland having its roots in the Peoples

Republic o Poland, the Catholic Association o Journalists and sev-

eral trade unions (the Syndicate o Polish Journalists, the Journalists

12W. Izdebski: W poszukiwaniu zaginionej Arki: czy prasa odnajdzie cech

unikaln?, Wirtualne Media, 20 September 2007, http://www.wirtualnemedia.pl/

article/244562_W_poszukiwaniu_zaginionej_Arki_czy_prasa_odnajdzie_ceche_uni-kalna.htm (27.09.2007).


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144 MEDIA SYSTEMS

rade Union, the rade Union o Radio and elevision Journalists).

Te situation is urther complicated by the act that many renowned

journalists do not belong to any o the associations, what, in practice,

oten impedes not only the articulation o demands concerning ree-

dom o expression or access to inormation, but also the struggle or

social issues (e.g. orcing journalists to set up one-person companies to

reduce editorial costs).

o recapitulate, it should be noted that, although the market ofer

regarding both the opinion-orming press and television increases ineach subsequent year (new journals appear Dziennik, Polska; new V

channels are launched VN 24, VN CNBC, V Business, VP

Ino), a more sophisticated and demanding reader has ewer chances

to encounter a satisying product, what unortunately does not inspire

optimism. What is even worse, every efort made by publishers dem-

onstrates that the emergence o new magazines in their ofer does not

particularly increase readership. Tereore, we ace the phenomenon

commonly called cannibalisation which implies that the successive

newly-created press titles deprive the already existing ones o their read-

ers while the necessity o an increasingly ercer struggle or the reader

extorts changes described above. Unortunately, even though this is not

an optimistic vision, it is dicult to argue with the acts.

Keywords

National Broadcasting Council, RSW, Polskapresse, Orkla, Media EthicsCouncil

Abstract

When in 1989, discussions on the unctioning o the social means o mass

communication in the newly emerged situation were held, none o the partici-

pants could even predict how ar the solutions promoted then would evolve.

However, both parties ully realised that the possession o the media, control


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over them and the ability to communicate with the public through them are

indispensable prerequisites or obtaining social support.

Nowadays, we ace such challenges as the politicisation o the media,

relentless struggle or audience and viewership, tabloidisation o broadcasts,

cannibalisation o the press market. However, they are also accompanied by

positive phenomena including new technologies associated with printing,

constantly emerging new media projects or such innovations as the possibility

o using the mobile media. Tey all prove that the Polish media market has

radically changed over the last 20 years that elapsed since the Round able

agreements.

Bibliography

Adamowski J., Stasiak-Jazukiewicz E., Golka B.: Wybrane zagraniczne systemy

inormacji masowej. Warsaw 1996.

Goban-Klas .:Niepokorna orkiestra medialna. Dyrygenci i wykonawcy polityki

inormacyjnej w Polsce po 1989 roku. Warsaw 2004.

Izdebski W: W poszukiwaniu zaginionej Arki: czy prasa odnajdzie cech unikaln?

Wirtualne Media, 20 September 2007, http://www.wirtualnemedia.pl/

article/244562_W_poszukiwaniu_zaginionej_Arki_czy_prasa_odnajdzie_

ceche_unikalna.htm (27.09.2007).

Jakubowicz K.: Media publiczne. Pocztek koca czy nowy pocztek. Warsaw

2007.

Kcki M., Kopiski M.: Jak Renata Beger podpisy kupowaa,Gazeta Wyborcza,

28 September 2007, http://www.gazetawyborcza.pl/1,75478,4528083.

html (22.10.2007).Konarska K. System mediw elektronicznych w Wielkiej Brytanii. oru 2006.

Kucharski S.: Wiksza, bo mniejsza, Press2007, No. 10, p. 6.

Mocek S.: Dziennikarze po komunizmie. Warsaw 2006.

Mrozowski M.: [no title] debate on the public media, [in:] Rynek audiowi-

zualny w Polsce. Ocena i perspektywy, ed. by J. Adamowski, pp. 1932.

Pokorna-Ignatowicz K.: Spr polityczny wok telewizji Polskiej, [in:] Media,

wadza, prawo, ed. by M. Magoska, Krakw 2005, pp. 4157.


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146 MEDIA SYSTEMS

Rzeczpospolita, jak Te imes. Wirtualne Media, 25 September 2007, http://

www.wirtualnemedia.pl/article/250135_Rzeczpospolita_jak_Te_imes.

htm (28.09.2007).

Uhlig D.: Jak Lipiski przekonywa Beger do wejcia do PIS, Gazeta

Wyborcza, 26 September 2006, http://wiadomosci.gazeta.pl/wiadomo-

sci/1,53600,3646253.html (22.10.2007).

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