Gazeta Wyborcza

Gazeta Wyborcza was first published on 8 May 1989,[8] under the rhyming masthead motto, "Nie ma wolności bez Solidarności" ("There's no freedom without Solidarity"). The founders were Andrzej Wajda, Aleksander Paszyński and Zbigniew Bujak.[9] Its founding was an outcome of the Polish Round Table Agreement between the communist government of the People's Republic of Poland and political opponents centred on the Solidarity movement. It was initially owned by Agora SA.[10] Later the American company Cox Communications partially bought the daily.[10]

The paper was to serve as the voice of Solidarity during the run-up to the 1989 parliamentary elections (hence its title). As such, it was the first legal newspaper published outside the communist government's control since its founding in the late 1940s.

The paper's editor-in-chief, since its founding, has been Adam Michnik.[11][12] He was appointed to the post by Lech Wałęsa.[13] The paper is published in compact format.[14][15]

According to the editors, the first edition was small (150,000 copies) and relatively expensive due to the limited supplies of paper available from the government. A year and a half later, the daily run had reached 500,000 copies. In September 1990, during the acrimonious breakup of the Solidarity camp following the collapse of the communist government, Wałęsa revoked the paper's right to use the Solidarity logo on its masthead.[16]

Since then, Gazeta Wyborcza has been an independent newspaper broadly aligned with the neoliberal viewpoint, at times leaning towards conservatism.

The paper is a multi-section daily newspaper, and it publishes daily local editions for the following cities: Warsaw, Białystok, Bydgoszcz, Częstochowa, Gdańsk, Gorzów Wielkopolski, Katowice, Kraków, Kielce, Lublin, Łódź, Olsztyn, Opole, Płock, Poznań, Radom, Rzeszów, Szczecin, Toruń, Wrocław, and Zielona Góra.

Gazeta Wyborcza had a circulation of 432,000 copies during the first three quarters of 1998.[15] The circulation of the paper was 459,473 copies between January and February 2001.[17] Its circulation was 542,000 copies in 2003, making it the second best selling newspaper in the country.[14] The 2004 circulation of the paper was 516,000 copies on weekdays and 686,000 copies on weekends.[8] The average circulation of the newspaper peaked at 672,000, making Gazeta Wyborcza the largest-selling newspaper in Poland. By 2010, the circulation had declined by more than half, to 319,000, and Fakt overtook Gazeta Wyborcza as Poland's leading newspaper. The decline continued in 2013 when circulation was down to 190,000.[18] Circulation dropped to 86,000 in 2019 [19] and stabilised at 81,000 in early 2020.[20]

Gazeta Wyborcza head office in Warsaw, Czerska Street

Gazeta Wyborcza was criticized for using its influence to whitewash former communists, particularly General Jaruzelski.[21] After the fall of communism, the paper was criticized for taking part in an "intensive propaganda campaign" and particularly for rigorously trying to revamp Jaruzelski's image.[22]

In 2020 and 2021, Gazeta Wyborcza and their feminist-themed subsection Wysokie Obcasy has come under criticism for repeated posting of transphobic and TERF articles and interviews (often in relation to their coverage of 2020 women's strike protests in Poland).[23]

Gazeta Praca (classified job advertisements, salary lists, Mondays), Gazeta Sport (Mondays), Komunikaty (properties classifieds, Tuesdays), Gazeta Dom (building and furnishing, Wednesdays), Duży Format (reportages, Thursdays), Gazeta Telewizyjna (TV programmes, Fridays), Gazeta Co Jest Grane (cinema and theatre repertoires, film and book reviews, music events, Fridays), Gazeta Turystyka (travelling extra, Saturdays) and Wysokie Obcasy, Wysokie Obcasy Extra[24] (women's extra, Saturdays, since April 1999).

The online edition of Gazeta Wyborcza is one of the sections of the portal Gazeta.pl. The paid electronic version of the newspaper is an option. The website wyborcza.pl has been expanded through rankings of articles which are most frequently read and commented on. It presents Polish and global history on most notable covers of Gazeta Wyborcza. Beside analogue sections from the paper edition, the website also provides a feedback section which allows the readers to contact the editorial staff and express opinions).

The paper's website links to Gazeta's journalists' blogs, including the ones by: Ewa Milewicz, Dominika Wielowieyska, Jan Turnau, Bartosz Węglarczyk and Wojciech Orliński. The number of journalists who write blogs is constantly increasing.

• Michnikowszczyzna. Zapis choroby
• List of newspapers in Poland

• Official website