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Journalists Know Better ... Don’t They?!
By Maciej Duszynski
Freelance Journalist
October 2006
Aleksander Kwasniewski, president of Poland from 1995 – 2005, was seen in a drunken state by reporters three times during that period. Some of the journalists reported only about the third time, however. They decided not to inform the Polish populace about the other instances because in their minds that might have damaged the international reputation of Poland. Does this demonstrate high concern about national interest or just low journalistic self-censorship and human fears? And, by the way, should journalists care about national interest or should they simply provide all the true news which might be considered of interest to media consumers?
During President Kwasniewski’s first five-year term, reporters saw him drunk both in San Francisco at the United Nations Summit, rolling about in the Polish flag trying to put it on, and in Belarus when he met Belarusian president Aleksandr Lukashenko and tried to enter a limousine through the trunk rather than the vehicle’s side door. During his second term, Kwasniewski was seen drunk while visiting the graves of Polish officers killed by Soviets in Katin and Kharkiv (Ukraine, today) in a genocide during World War 2. On this occasion, probably because of the locale’s sacred and special place in Polish history, the president’s condition was reported. It was beyond the pale, even for some Polish journalists concerned about the national interest.
But not for all journalists. In fact, only one private television network, TVN, decided to present a story. Star anchorman Tomasz Lis, Poland’s best known TV journalist, highlighted the story as breaking news. Some months later he was fired by TVN, and there were people who claimed it was because of strong ties between the owners of TVN and the president’s office. Niche catholic PLUS Radio was the only other media outlet to run the story. All other journalists chose not to do a story.
Moreover, Poles were unaware of the previous two instances of presidential inebriation. After Kwasniewski left office and speaking out required less courage, a sharp and controversial Polish TV program, “Warto Rozmawiac” (It’s Good To Talk) featured journalists discussing why only Tomasz Lis’ TVN and Radio PLUS reported the president’s “strange behavior” when visiting the Polish cemetery. During the program one of the journalists, Maria Przelomiec, confessed that she had seen the president drunk twice before and neither she nor more than ten other journalists from different news organizations reported it.
Are we journalists mixing up our responsibilities? Shouldn’t politicians care about the national interest and journalists care about providing honest and truthful news coverage to society? And shouldn’t citizens care about choosing candidates for government based on the honest and true information provided by the media? Aren’t things upside-down when the media express concern about national interest, politicians proclaim they care about “free media” and “freedom of speech” and society is cheated by journalists who conceal important truths?
I remember when I went with President Kwasniewski on a presidential plane to Vienna, Austria for what were billed as “important bilateral talks between the Polish and Austrian residents concerning Polis accession to the European Union.” That “very important” meeting took 10 to 15 minutes at the most, and the Polish president impatient the whole time. Journalists and officer’s from the president’s office were chatting that the real reason for coming to Vienna was to attend the city’s famous Opera Ball. I wrote in my story that here and there, i.e. in the Austrian press, it was reported that the main incentive for the president’s visit was the desire of the presidential couple to attend the evening event. After the article appeared, Polish diplomats in Vienna wrote corrections to my editor-in-chief defending the President Kwasniewski and his wife, noting that “the Opera ball is a very important event in Austrian political circles.” In my story I did not say that it wasn’t. I simply revealed that the true goal of the official visit to Vienna wasn’t bilateral diplomatic talks, but rather taking part in an expensive and exclusive evening — which was interesting for my readers. The president’s office decided that no one from my magazine would be invited to ride on the presidential plane again which de fact meant we were not able to report about any further presidential journeys. The editor-in-chief was a good colleague of mine snd re really disliked the style of Kwasniewski’s presidency, and that’s probably why our relationship after this incident was even better than it was before. At most magazines or news organizations, reporting on a presidential journey as I had done which resulted in banning the organization from further coverage would have resulted in firing the reporter from the news organization. Most, if not all, of the instances of not reporting the president’s drunkenness were motivated not by concern about the national interest but by concern over losing one’s job. This is quite a different consideration, isn’t it?
We will never know what might have happened if previous incidents of being drunk in public were reported. It might have affected his reelection. It might have meant he wouldn’t even have run for a second term. But we also don’t know other important matters. How many similar things about presidents, prime ministers, government officials, heads of large companies have been hidden and self-censored by journalists? If one journalist confessed she had seen the president drunk three times and didn’t report on it, it’s likely others saw other important things they never reported. If societies are kept unaware of unethical and immoral behavior on the part of elected officials, they are unable to make informed choices about candidates for office. Bad people will rule over uninformed citizens and lead their countries in bad directions. Is this in the national interest? Is this something we journalists should care about?
Journalists don’t necessarily know better. They just know more, because it is their role and responsibility to gather information about important events and present it to the public. If journalists decide NOT to share what they have learned with the public, does that make any sense? Are they still responsible to the citizenry, their readers and viewers, or are they clerks working for regimes, authorities, government?
Maciej Duszynski is an award-winning freelance journalist and foreign correspondent for Ozon, Newsweek and Wprost weeklies, covering world affairs. He is based in Warsaw but in 2006-07 is in Indonesia covering Southeast Asia. He has lectured on journalism and mass communication at universities in Minsk, Belarus and Ukraine and at Polish educational institutions. In 2005 he was a visiting scholar at Missouri School of Journalism, and in 2006 he was a participant in the third annual Transparency Reporting Seminar of the World Press Institute in St. Paul, Minnesota.
