Three Polish newspaper editors replaced following state oil giant takeover

Three editors-in-chief responsible for four Polish newspapers recently bought by state-owned oil giant Orlen have been replaced. The developments come despite Orlen promising not to make major personnel changes, following concerns that its takeover was designed to increase the government’s influence over the media.

Orlen last month completed its buyout of Polska Press – a media firm that owns hundreds of local newspapers and websites – from its German owner, Verlagsgruppe Passau. A court later ruled that the takeover should be suspended, but Orlen disputes that judgement.

After the latter ruling, the CEO of Orlen, Daniel Obajtek, sought to allay concerns about the deal by announcing that “no layoffs among Polska Press employees are planned” and that “Orlen does not intend to interfere with the journalistic content in titles published by Polska Press”.

However, Polska Press’s board had by then already been replaced with figures associated with Orlen. The media group’s overall editor-in-chief, Paweł Fąfara, who had promised to defend “independent journalism”, had also been replaced by Dorota Kania, a journalist who has worked for outlets with ties to the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party.

Like Obajtek, Kania assured that she did “not have any plans for a reshuffle” in editorial offices. Yesterday, however, it emerged that three editors-in-chief working at four of Polska Press’s newspapers have been dismissed.

Marek Twaróg, who had served as editor of Dziennik Zachodni, which covers the region of Upper Silesia, since 2010, has been replaced by Grzegorz Gajda, who had until now worked for state broadcaster TVP, which has become a mouthpiece for the government.

In an interview with Onet last month, Twaróg had pledged that, as long as he remained in his position, his newspaper would “not be the mouthpiece of any party”.

Jerzy Sułowski, the editor of two Kraków-based newspapers – Dziennik Polski and Gazeta Krakowska – has been replaced by Wojciech Mucha, a journalist who has previously worked for TVP and Gazeta Polska, a newspaper linked to PiS.

Finally, Stanisław Sowa, who had been editor of Gazeta Codzienna Nowiny, which covers the Podkarpackie Province, for 15 years, has been replaced by Arkadiusz Rogowski, who previously worked for the local branch of TVP.

Asked by Wirtualna Media why she had changed her mind about removing editors, Kania said that, “after a month [in my position], when I saw what the media in this publishing house are like and when our plans for change had crystallised, I took the decision to make changes in those places that immediately required it”.

However, a number of other journalists and commentators said that the personnel changes were further steps in bringing Polska Press’s outlets under the influence of PiS and its allies.

“The manner in which Polska Press’s newspapers have been hammered illustrates [PiS] chief [Jarosław Kaczyński’s] way of thinking about the media and journalists: they are to be the executors of the will of the party, obedient sergeants, and not honest or, even worse, independent,” said Łukasz Warzecha, a columnist for the right-wing Do Rzeczy.

“Today we understand the true meaning of the word repolonisation,” tweeted Michał Szułdrzyński, deputy editor of the centre-right Rzeczpospolita, referring to the term PiS uses for bringing foreign-owned media into Polish hands. “[It is about] employing people from Gazeta Polska in previously independent media.”

However, PiS MP Joanna Lichocka – who is also a member of the National Media Council, a body that oversees public media, and herself a former journalist – welcomed the editorial changes.

“Completely privately, as a journalist, as a Pole, I’m very pleased,” she tweeted, followed by the PiS slogan #dobrazmiana (#goodchange)

Main image credit: Adrianna Bochenek/Agencja Gazeta

Daniel Tilles

Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.