Development of a free press
The Polish press market grew dynamically in the first half of the 1990s. The number of newspapers and magazines published in 1990-1995 rose by almost half, from 3,007 in 1990 to 4,340 in 1995. By 2001, there were already 5,837 press titles - nationwide and local newspapers, dailies, weeklies, monthlies and specialist papers. Of interest, the newspaper boom hit the local market particularly hard. Before 1989, local press was quite rare. At the start of the 1990s, though, there was no region of the country where no attempt was made to publish a regional, local or neighbourhood newspaper, or newsletter. The emergence of new titles, including in the local press, went hand-in-hand with the development of self-governance and the creation of a fully-fledged civil society in Poland.
However, the development of the Polish media is not simply a matter of a growing number of new titles. At the start of 1990s, the press also faced various questions of how to function in a free market, and in particular the need to change the ways of thinking of those managing the media. Since that time, then, newspapers bosses have had to reconcile themselves with the fact that they alone cannot determine their paper's or magazine's content, with the advent of advertising-driven revenues.
The evolution of the Polish media is best illustrated by 'Gazeta Wyborcza' and its publisher, 'Agora' - the largest multimedia conglomerate in Poland, consisting of 'Gazeta,' an Internet portal, many radio stations, the largest outdoor ads company on the domestic market and a dozen colour magazines. The company is also searching for further development possibilities and an entry onto the television market.
From its inception, 'Agora' sought an investor with experience in the media sector. This happened to be Cox, operating in the south of the U.S., a publisher of local newspapers and owner of radio stations. Cox was not only a source of capital, but also knowledge of the strategies best suited to developing modern media concerns. Gazeta's daily themed supplements are today, for example, one of the key elements of the overall product that turns sales turnover.
'Gazeta' has in effect conquered the small ads market, issuing dozens of local (regional) pull-outs in the largest Polish cities. This means, that in each region of Poland a slightly different mutation of the newspaper appears. This was possible because the concern owns three modern printing houses and a network of local editorial offices.
From today's perspective, the beginnings of 'Gazeta,' edited in a building that had been used as a nursery, seem like ancient history. Today, about 800 journalists work in its super-modern Warsaw editorial office and Agora is listed on the Warsaw stock exchange.
The most popular paper amongst Polish business classes is 'Rzeczpospolita' - the third largest daily in terms of circulation in the country. A large part of its circulation is sold in subscriptions to businesses. But 'Rzeczpospolita' is read not only by top-management, but also owners of the local bakery or car garage. The daily has many sections, dealing with the current macroeconomic situation, the stock exchange, companies, the labour market (the 'Economy and Market' supplement, printed on green pages), while its legal section, 'Law every day' ('Prawo Co Dnia,' on its yellow pages) is where the most important legal acts, legal decrees and legal specialist commentaries used by entrepreneurs big and small can be found. Once a week 'Rzeczpospolita' has an insert, 'My company,' that often consists of additional multimedia materials and is designed for owners of small and medium sized enterprises. The paper has a conservative image, indicated by its wide columns and A3 format. Alongside the liberal 'Gazeta Wyborcza' it is one of the most opinion-forming parts of the Polish media. Interestingly, 'Rzeczpospolita' first appeared in communist times and some of its pages were at that time edited directly by government institutions. With the entry of foreign investors in the 1990s - the first was French concern Hersant, later the Norwegian group Orkla - the paper gained its independence and worked out a new, and - in market terms - effective, image.
Polish entrepreneurs also have at their disposal a strictly financial press, with the dailies 'Puls Biznesu' and 'Parkiet' perhaps most deserving of a mention. The former has been published in Poland since 1997 by the Scandinavian media concern Bonnier AB, while the latter is exclusively devoted to the Warsaw Stock Exchange and is published by a Polish publisher.
Among dailies, perhaps the biggest winner over the last decade, however, has been the tabloid 'Super Express.' As the paper's editorial itself reads, its readers are 'people who do not expect from their daily newspaper serious and complicated articles.' The paper aims to focus on the lives of ordinary people, enjoys a bit of sensation, although doesn't dilute its journalistic pedigree on facts and sources.
The serious political and social weeklies are also very popular. 'Polityka' and 'Wprost,' are similar in style and character to the German 'Der Spiegel' and French 'Le Figaro.' Both have Polish origins. 'Polityka' has been published since 1957, and has a well-established image as a magazine with high quality content. The best-known Polish journalists seem to have been working on the magazine since time began. Today the magazine enjoys popularity in large part for its perceived independence.
'Wprost' has been printed since December 1982. It is also a current affairs weekly. The nation's most renowned public people publish here, including Poland's best-known contemporary economist and father of the 1990 Polish reforms, Leszek Balcerowicz.
These current affairs weeklies were joined in September 2001 by the Polish edition of 'Newsweek,' which has since won a large chunk of the market and a loyal readership. 'Newsweek' tends to use a simpler language than its Polish competitors, thanks to which it gets through to a younger readership much easily.
However, Poles' readership profile would not be complete without the inclusion of the women's press and entertainment-related press. The leaders here are mainly foreign concerns which created new titles from scratch or took over Polish papers with rich traditions, refreshed their brands and made the content more attractive. In the case of women's and youth magazines and TV-pages, the German company Bauer is the unquestioned leader, publishing in Poland a total of 30 titles with a combined circulation of 33 million. Another giant publisher is also Axel Springer, which has focused on the specialist press. As many as eight computer-related magazines from this publishing house are available in Poland. Springer also publishes magazines for women, motor magazines, as well as the business monthly 'Profit' and the previously mentioned weekly.
