Marcin Pawłowski died 19 years ago. He hosted TVN’s “Fakty” until the very end

Marcin Pawłowski has been associated with the editorial office of “Fakty” TVN since 1997, i.e. from the beginning of the station’s flagship television daily. However, his adventure with journalism began much earlier. Initially, he wrote for the sports section of the Kielce “Echa Dnia”, and after moving to Warsaw to study and graduating, he began to cooperate with the Warsaw Television Center (currently TVP3 Warszawa).

Marcin Pawłowski has been dead for 19 years. He was one of the most popular journalists of “Fakty”

Some time later, he appeared on the main channel of TVP, where, together with Karolina Korwin-Piotrowska, he hosted a program entitled “Filmidło”. In 1997, when the TVN station was launched, he joined the editorial office of “Fakty”, with which the journalist is still best associated.

There he excelled as both a reporter and host. On weekends and holidays, he sat in the chair of Tomasz Lis, who was then the main editor of the daily, and replaced him. Pawłowski was the person who informed Poles about the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in 2001.

His good fortune did not last very long, because in 2002 he was diagnosed with soft organ cancer and had to quit his job. He underwent treatment, which, however, did not bring the expected results and then Pawłowski decided to “take the bull by the horns” and return to running the program. When he appeared on TVN again in 2004, many of the station’s viewers couldn’t recognize him.

I owe you a word of explanation. We’re seeing each other for the first time after a six-month break, and it’s hard not to notice that I’ve changed a bit. It’s true, I’m sick, and an important part of fighting my illness is work, so I decided to go back to work. My doctors, bosses, colleagues understand this. I hope you will also understand,” he said directly to the audience after a two-year break.

Pawłowski fought the disease and was professionally active practically until the very end. He last appeared on TV screens on September 10, 2004. He died just over two months later, on November 20, 2004, and four days later he was buried at Powązki Cemetery in Warsaw.

The information shocked the entire country. Poles couldn’t believe that such a young and talented journalist lost his battle with cancer. Posthumously, Marcin Pawłowski was awarded the Grand Press Journalist of the Year award. However, his parent editorial office also decided to establish their own award in his honor.

This is the Award named after Marcin Pawłowski, which TVN awards for the best news material. His memory is cherished every year in “Fakty”. At the end of the November 20 issue, footage of him is shown and the end credits are not shown. We then see an empty armchair or a portrait of a journalist on the screen.