Chapter 9
In: Politics and the Media in Poland from the 19th to the 21st Centuries
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Abstract
Scientific objective: The arrangements made during the Round Table Agreement influenced the development of the media in Poland, abolishing repression against samizdat and replacing the concession system with the registration system. The new legislation made it possible to establish titles with different views. The monthly Słowo Narodowe [National Word] appeared in May 1989. It was the first legal magazine of the national camp in Poland. It was a platform for the presentation of nationalist ideas and program during the period of political transformation, and the second publishing initiative of the company Słowo i Czyn [Word and Action]. The magazine was struggling with problems specific to new press at that time. The last issue of the magazine was published in April 1991. The aim of this article is to determine the assumptions of the magazine, its ideological postulates and functions, but also the competence of the editorial team.
Research methods: This study is based on a qualitative and quantitative content analysis.
Results and conclusions: Ideological premises present in National Word were in line with the premises of the pre-war National Democracy movement. The editorial team considered the following to be the most important values: nation, Catholicism, nation-state, national culture, national economy. National Word described the Polish nation as a Catholic nation, pointing out that the Catholic church played a significant role in shaping the nation’s consciousness, morality and customs, and influenced its system of values and lifestyle. The content of the periodical determined its functions, namely informative, educational, entertaining, opinion-forming, attitude-forming and milieu-forming functions. The opinion-forming and attitude-forming functions had a dominant position. The members of the editorial team had publishing, journalistic and organisational experience. The members of the editorial team and feature writers of National Word came from various informal and conspiratorial discussion groups and organisations of nationalist provenance.
Cognitive value: The research showed the process of rebuilding the political environment in the conditions of systemic transformation and the slow democratisation of social and political life in Poland. The importance of the press for building the political environment and the dominant functions of the political press (opinion-forming and attitude-shaping) have been proven.