The Committee expresses its concern regarding the latest developments at Gazeta Wyborcza

25 Nov 2021

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As members of the Committee for Editorial Independence of Economia, we wish to express our grave concern at the deepening conflict between the editors of Gazeta Wyborcza and the management board of Agora, its publisher. Adam Michnik, the founder and editor-in-chief of the paper, described the latest development, the sacking of Managing Editor, Jerzy Wójcik, as ‘an attempt to destroy Gazeta Wyborcza’. The dispute poses a threat not only to this title, a widely-recognised symbol of media freedom in Central Europe since 1989, but also to democracy in Poland and the entire region. We all owe a substantial debt to Gazeta Wyborcza’s journalists and editors for the role they played in Poland’s transition from communism to democracy, for their promotion of civil liberties, for their support of the rule of law, and for the harmonious cooperation with other countries in the region and the wider European Union. In acknowledging this debt, we express our hope that a solution will be found at the earliest opportunity that safeguards both the independence of the editorial staff as well as the interests of the publisher. We stand in solidarity with the staff of Gazeta Wyborcza in their efforts to defend the free media in Poland.

Misha Glenny, Alexandra Borchardt, Aleksander Kaczorowski, Václav Štětka
Members of the Committee for Editorial Independence
Economia, a.s.