Polarisation of Content in Polish News Making, as Exemplified by News Programmes of Licensed Broadcasters and the Public Service Broadcaster

Abstract

The paper contains a quantitative and qualitative analysis of the news services of the three largest broadcasters and three events essential for the functioning of the state and public life in Poland. The first one was the amendment to the Supreme Court Act of July 2017. The second event was the local elections campaign in Poland (broadcasts aired on the 18th of October 2018, the last but one day of the elections campaign), while the third set of material were the news items on the murder of the Mayor of Gdańsk – Paweł Adamowicz (broadcasts aired on the 15th of January 2019, one day after the tragic event). The analysis focused on the evening news editions by the three most popular broadcasters with the highest viewership, including commercial stations (i.e. TVN’s Fakty and Polsat’s Wydarzenia) and the public broadcaster (i.e. the Polish Television’s Wiadomości). In total, 43 news items of 2 hours, 20 minutes and 6 seconds were analysed. The study has revealed a clear polarisation of news content coming from the licensed broadcasters and the public service broadcaster.