| Puls Polonii: Elżbieta Drozd, były komisarz Wiktoriańskiej Komisji Wielokulturowości, złożyła formalną skargę wobec listu dziennikarzy australijskich z ME&AA skierowanego do Pani Premier Beaty Szydło. Poniżej podajemy w całości jej skargę, którą traktujemy jako skargę ze strony (większości) Polonii Australijskiej podzielającej zaprezentowane w liście stanowisko. Odsyłamy również do wyjaśnienia Ministra Spraw Zagranicznych Witolda Waszczykowskiego. Przypominamy, że list dziennikarzy z ME&AA był natychmiast opublikowany i nagłośniony w Gazecie Wyborczej, patrz również artykuł w PP.
25th January 2016
Mr Paul Murphy, CEO
Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance
Australia
Dear Mr Murphy,
I write to lodge a formal complaint about your letter to the Hon. Beata Szydlo, Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland, dated 12th January 2016.
As a Polish background migrant who lived in Poland during the communist regime in the first 20 years of my life and who has been fortunate to experience democracy during the last 30+ years when living in Australia, I am disappointed that you and your Association seem to have become caught up in the misleading information and bias that is being currently spread thrugh the representatives of the current Polish opposition party and their supporters including journalists who openly supported the government that in October 2015 decisively lost the democratic elections.
Despite, I assume, your and your Associations Members’ commitment to independent and objective media, I am wondering if ME&AA reacted in a similar manner when the previous Polish government terminated key people from the public broadcaster chanel in 2010 eg. Witold Gadowski - Director of TVP 1, Stanisław Janecki, Dorota Maciej and Anita Gargas – Deputy Directors of TVP 1, Pawel Nowacki – manager of publicity, Jacek Karnowski – News Chief. Others, knowing what was coming – left at their own accord eg. Krzysztof Karwowski, chief of Teleexpress. There were many others, who suddenly lost their jobs eg. Marek Pyza, Marcin Wikło and Bartek Wróblewski, Ewa Świecińska and Maciej Walaszczyk and Danuta Holecka. Are you aware that the previous Polish government sacked almost 80 journalists during its reign? Are you aware that over 70% of printed press in media in Poland is German-owned?
The Polish nation and its people recently democratically and very decisively elected a new government and the changes that are being implemented aim to develop a more balanced media and a more balanced constitutional tribunal.
Sadly, despite the first democratic elections in Poland in 1989, the country still has not been able to establish truly independent government institutions eg. media - like the Australian Broadcasting Cooperation or an independent judicial system. Are you aware that the previous Polish Constitutional Tribunal had 14 pro-government members, out of 15?
Are you aware that the Polish Public TV Broadcaster was impossible to watch because of the daily bias that existed under the previous government. Even now, with the changes that the new government is implementing, we still do not seem to have balanced reporting.
The newly elected Polish government has to implement significant changes (which may seem drastic to the outside world), in order to rebalance the inequity in the media, constitutional tribunal etc, that they inherited from the previous government.
Internal affairs of a foreign country can be complex and often are multifaceted. As a result of the eight years of the previous Polish government, the Polish society has become highly divided. Let’s hope that for the nation that has suffered so much during its history, whose people have played a key role in bringing down communism in Eastern Europe, its people will become more united and will enjoy democracy, equity, whose journalists will be able to report without fear or favour.
I look forward to your response.
Elizabeth Drozd
Former Victorian Multicultural Commissioner 2008-2015
Cc: The Hon. Beata Szydlo, Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland;
H.E. Mr Pawel Milewski, Ambassador of the Republic of Poland in Australia
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