Media Accountability Meets Media Polarisation: A Case Study from Poland

Media and journalism in Poland have experienced significant changes in the aftermath of 2015 parliamentary elections which led to the creation of majority government by conservative Law and Justice party. Reforms introduced by the government resulted with the rise of social protests alongside the attention of the European institutions and non-governmental organisations which are to foster and monitor the state of democracy and media freedom. Growing divisions and conflicts between political parties and society groups have been recently supported by external media pluralism and reflected with polarisation and radicalisation of journalistic communities. Moreover, instead of maintaining social cohesion and conflict mitigation media outlets have made the divisions in society even bigger, often acting hostile and aggressive to each other. Through examination of selected aspects of media polarisation, including media ownership, financing, governance, biased reporting, and the emergence of ‘media tribes’, this paper will go a long way in explaining the origins and effects of media divergence in Poland. It is argued here that weakness of media accountability might be seen as critical when explaining low level of journalistic professionalisation. This – in turn – is further undermining standards, values and practices of professional media-making alongside polarisation of Polish society.