Rzeczpospolita (newspaper)

A daily newspaper with this title was issued for the first time in 1920 as a medium of the conservative Christian National Party. It was Initially owned by its founder Ignacy Jan Paderewski and after 1924 by Wojciech Korfanty, two prominent politicians of that time. The editor-in-chief Stanisław Stroński sought to maintain quality of the content by cooperating with a group of authors, including Adolf Nowaczyński, Kornel Makuszyński, and Władysław Witwicki. The last issue of Rzeczpospolita in the Second Polish Republic appeared on the last day of 1931.

During the war (1940–1943), an irregular paper associated with one of the Polish resistance groups – Polish People's Independence Action – was issued under the same title.

Logo on the main building

Headquarters of Rzeczpospolita on Prosta Street in Warsaw

In 1944 an administration dependent on the Soviet Union started activities behind the lines of the Red Army, within the territory of Poland. Initially the activity was directed only against former Nazi German forces, in order to gain the favour of Polish society.

On 23 July 1944, when the war had not been over yet, the first issue of Rzeczpospolita – the newspaper of the Polish Committee of National Liberation – was published in Chełm. The editor-in-chief was Jerzy Borejsza, a communist activist and journalist in the interwar years, who after the outbreak of war collaborated with the Russians before they entered Polish territory. His articles in Rzeczpospolita presented the opinions in line with the position of the Kremlin. The newspaper began strenuous endeavours as to form a positive image of the new government. The Home Army commanders and their decision to commence the Warsaw Uprising were criticised, while nationalisation and land reform were supported.

After the war, Rzeczpospolita was issued by "Czytelnik" cooperative publishing house, whose president was Borejsza himself. He delegated the editorial duties to Paweł Hoffman, who soon changed the title to Rzeczpospolita. Dziennik Gospodarczy, later changing it again to Rzeczpospolita. Dziennik Polityczno-Gospodarczy. In 1949, the editor-in-chief was Henryk Korotyński, and newspaper joined the campaign against the Roman Catholic Church.

In 1949, the state authorities had established another newspaper – People's Tribune (Polish: Trybuna Ludu) as an organ of a newly formed political party, the Polish United Workers' Party (colloquially: party). Rzeczpospolita had been issued still by nearly two years, until the beginning of 1951, when it was discontinued because coexistence of the party and government newspapers was considered at that time unfavorable for a consolidated one-party state. Part of the team joined Głos Pracy, while several journalists, including Korotyński, moved to Życie Warszawy.

In 1980 the state had faced a crisis, and consequently the party's overall image deteriorated significantly. This prompted the idea to relaunch a separate government newspaper. In the spring of 1981, thus during the rise of Solidarity, Edmund Osmańczyk, member of parliament of the Polish People’s Republic, proposed to revive Rzeczpospolita as a "governmental medium presenting the position of the state on a daily basis”. Józef Barecki, former editor of Trybuna Ludu, a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and of the parliament, as well as a government spokesman for a year, was appointed as the editor-in-chief. The first issue of the new Rzeczpospolita appeared during the martial law, on 14 January 1982.

The state, as an entity, had become officially independent from the party (even though this independence was still largely fictitious within a communist state). Thus, from 1982 onwards, Rzeczpospolita and Trybuna Ludu resumed their parallel existence as the official bulletins of the government and the party apparatus respectively. This dualism corresponded to the situation in the Soviet Union, where the government newspaper Izvestia functioned alongside the party's Pravda, and where Izvestia has steered a course strikingly similar to Rzeczpospolita in the 1990s.

After the partially free elections of 4 June 1989 and after Tadeusz Mazowiecki became Prime Minister, the management of the newspaper changed as well. Rzeczpospolita was no longer a government medium and became an independent newspaper. Its new editor-in-chief was Dariusz Fikus (until 1996).

The new Polish government made Rzeczpospolita legitimately independent. In February 1991, Państwowe Przedsiębiorstwo Wydawnicze "Rzeczpospolita", a state publishing company, with Maciej Cegłowski as the new CEO, together with the French Robert Hersant press group, Presse Participations Europennes, established Presspublica company. Its first CEO was the then editor-in-chief of Rzeczpospolita, Dariusz Fikus. Initially, the Polish shareholder held 51% of company shares, while the French owned 49%. In 1993, Rzeczpospolita was named the Newspaper of the Year by the Pheidippides Committee.

In the mid-1990s, the Polish party sold the additional 2% of shares to the French. In 1996, the Norwegian Orkla Media corporation acquired shares held by the Robert Hersant group. During the next 10 years, 51% of shares were held by the subsidiary of Orkla Press Polska, Presspublica Holding Norway, while 49% belonged to Państwowe Przedsiębiorstwo Wydawnicze "Rzeczpospolita" (from 1 March 2000, to Przedsiębiorstwo Wydawnicze “Rzeczpospolita” SA). In October 2006, the shares of Orkla Press Polska were taken over by Mecom Poland Holdings SA forming part of the British Mecom Group.

In October 2011 Gremi Media, owned by the Polish entrepreneur Grzegorz Hajdarowicz, purchased the shares from Mecom Poland[4] and the shares belonging to PW Rzeczpospolita (the State Treasury), becoming a 100% shareholder of Presspublica publishing house. The publishing house changed its name to Gremi Media, after which, in January 2017, it was transformed into a joint stock company operating under the business name of Gremi Media SA.

Rzeczpospolita newspaper cover from 1945

The basic edition of Rzeczpospolita is divided into four sections: the main one, dedicated to general news; the economic one (Ekonomia i rynek), the legal one (Prawo co dnia); and the regional one (Życie Regionów).

The general news section features, e.g., information on current political events, reports from Poland and abroad, commentaries and essays, expert opinions, as well as news relating to culture, science, lifestyle, or sports. Prawo co dnia ("Law Every Day") focuses on the changes in regulations and legislation and on legal analyses, including articles on labour law, analyses and expert opinions, or industry-related communications. Ekonomia i rynek ("Economy and Market") provides information about markets, enterprises, finance, current stock quotes, analyses of the economic situation and trends in Poland and abroad, as well as opinions of economists, experts and representatives of the business world.

The nationwide issue of the newspaper includes a series of regional monthly supplements entitled Życie Regionów ("Life of the Regions"). They are dedicated to important investments, business and education in the regions, as well as matters related to local politics, sports, and culture. Życie Regionów is the organiser of public debates that are crucial for local communities, as well as the media partner of major regional events.

On Saturdays, Plus Minus, the weekend edition of Rzeczpospolita, appears, containing articles related to civilisation, literature, lifestyle and metapolitics. It mainly includes essays, commentaries and feature articles, as well as reviews of books and cultural and sporting events. Interviews form a particularly important part of Plus Minus.

Newspaper subscription includes such specialised supplements as Podatki (taxes), Administracja (administration), Rzecz o prawie (law), Ekspert Księgowego (accounting), Praca i ZUS (labour and social security matters), or Prawo w Biznesie (law in business).

Dobra Firma ("Good Company") is a daily supplement to the main issue. It is primarily addressed to entrepreneurs from the SME sector. In an easy-to-understand manner, it covers both the legal issues relevant to business owners (taxes, social security, contracts, employment), and business matters (marketing of new products, business ideas, available solutions relating to company vehicles).

Nieruchomości ("Real Estate") appears on Mondays and Fridays. On Mondays, topics relating to construction and housing are presented, while on Fridays, matters related to the commercial real estate market are covered.

Every Tuesday, Rzeczpospolita Cyfrowa ("Digital Republic") is issued with Rzeczpospolita, dedicated to new technologies, with particular focus on their application in running a business and in developing new business branches.

Moje Pieniądze ("My Money") is a Thursday supplement devoted to personal finance. It offers tips on saving and investing money, buying shares and choosing insurance.

The Friday supplement is Rzecz o Historii ("The thing about History"), offering informative articles and historical analysis.

Regular publications of Rzeczpospolita include lists and rankings of companies, brands and institutions operating on the Polish market. The best known are: the 500 List, the 2000 List, the Ranking of the Most Valuable Polish Brands, and the Ranking of Law Firms.

In 2005, the newspaper received the Grand Front award, and in 2006, during the 27th edition of the competition organised by the Society for News Design, Rzeczpospolita was named "The best designed newspaper in the world". Rzeczpospolita received the Grand Front award also in 2013, for the best cover (dedicated to the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI).

rp.pl was one of the first online news services in the Polish media. In 2017 the service will have operated for 20 years, having been launched in March 1997. From November 2014, it has been using RWD technology (full responsiveness). Its current version has been available since 2015.

The website has over 32 million hits and 3 million unique users per month (data as of January 2017[5]).Rp.pl is one of the most frequently visited nationwide newspaper websites. In the "Business-Finance-Law" category, Gremi Group is ranked the 6th among all Polish groups of online services.[5]

A single average issue of Rzeczpospolita is about 65,000[6] copies. In 2016, 54,000[6] copies were sold.

Rzeczpospolita is distributed through paper version subscription, paper version sales and digital version. Subscription is divided into Basic subscription and Plus subscription dedicated to a more involved, specialised audience. Subscription of Rzeczpospolita offers features such as professional book publications, training, multimedia tools, or access to the archives.

The digital version of Rzeczpospolita is available around 9:00 p.m. on the day preceding the day of paper edition.

Rzeczpospolita has been often rated as the most frequently quoted medium in Poland. In 2014, it was considered the most opinion-making medium of the decade (2004–2013).

Also in 2016, Rzeczpospolita won in the ranking of the most influential media in Poland, prepared on a regular basis by the Media Monitoring Institute.[7]

The editorial staff currently consists of 150 persons (including the secretariat and editors of online content). The headquarters are located in Warsaw at ul. Prosta 51.

• Rzeczpospolita
• List of newspapers in Poland