A new series of recordings featuring Roman Giertych, released by TV Republika, reveal how media outlets friendly to certain politicians actively shape the political narrative in the country. Several conversations with Jarosław Kurski, deputy EIC of Gazeta Wyborcza, clearly demonstrate the extent of Roman Giertych’s influence on the newspaper’s operations.
Telewizja Republika has released additional tapes, this time concerning parliamentary elections and the manipulation of influential media. In the recordings, Giertych explicitly instructs journalists on when and where to publish specific materials.
The discussions refer to the well-known letter by Maciej Giertych, Roman’s father, in which he warned against voting for the Law and Justice party (PiS).
In one conversation, Roman Giertych asks Jarosław Kurski how best to disseminate the letter on right-wing online forums. Although Kurski admits he gets “reflux” when reading such forums, he notes that some journalists in the newsroom “revel in it.” — “Especially Czuchnowski, so if you talk to him, he might come up with something,” advised Kurski.
Further in the conversation, it is revealed that Wojciech Maziarski had already received the “historic text” from Giertych’s father for publication. Roman Giertych later discusses the letter’s release with the journalist, to which Maziarski responds that it had made a “strong personal impression” on him.
— “It’s incredibly powerful, so I’ll be more than happy to reprint it,” Maziarski adds, assuring that it would be published in the coming days.
“There’s a fun fact I’ll share with you,” Giertych continues, “Yesterday afternoon, the editor-in-chief of Idziemy published a piece that strongly criticized PiS and withdrew his support for them — without shifting it to Civic Platform.”
“We Won’t Be Able to Flip Radio Maryja”
Giertych pressed for the publication to first appear online as soon as possible. In a subsequent conversation with Kurski, he emphasized again that the piece should be published “on the internet as quickly as possible.” He then revisits the stance of the Idziemy weekly, describing it as a Catholic magazine “very influential in the Mazovia region.”
“We need to amplify this, because listen — we won’t be able to flip Radio Maryja, you know — but these local weeklies, local radio stations, all those outlets, they might manage to redirect some votes to the PSL,” Giertych explained.
— “It’s worth it. Anyway, there’s still a little time before the elections, but these kinds of things need to be done immediately,” admitted Jarosław Kurski.