I watched “19:30” on TVP with my parents. In their opinion, this is a bigger change than after 1989

Before we saw the opening credits and learned the name of the new news program, we were reminded of its definition. Interestingly, it was taken from Wikipedia, which may (but does not have to) be a small dig at Michał Rachoń, whose favorite source of knowledge was the online encyclopedia. The next word of the introduction was material explaining to people who had so far only watched Polish Television how public television had presented the world for eight years.

And at this point I would like to stop for everyone curious about what the first edition of the “7:30” daily looked like. . As a word of encouragement, I can add that the Basta Foundation, which in the past sued the National Broadcasting Council (KRRiT) to the European Commission for the body’s inaction towards hateful TVP materials, after viewing the new website stated:

We are pleased to inform you that for the first time in the official TVP material we have not recorded any manifestations of hate speech or violations of the Broadcasting Act – we read on the X website.

The first edition of “19:30” on TVP1 through the eyes of a 25-year-old

In my opinion, the difference between what we have seen over the last eight years and what Paweł Płuska’s team offered us is colossal. It was finally calm. All events were reported without the sensational tone that we were accustomed to in TVP news programs. Both the coalition and opposition views were presented.

In the roles of experts, we saw scientists from the University of Warsaw and journalists from other media than those associated with the media of the Karnowski brothers or Tomasz Sakiewicz. And citizens with different opinions were allowed to vote. And this is without any commentary that would somehow direct the viewer to receive the material.

However, I can forgive all technical and emission shortcomings, because I can guess the spartan conditions in which the first edition of “7:30” was created. Apparently things are calm in Woronicza, but at the TAI headquarters at pl. Powstańców Warszawy, from where news programs were broadcast, former employees, such as Michał Adamczyk, are still there.

“Dziennik Telewizyjny” and “Wiadomości” and “19:30” according to 60-year-olds

However, I was curious how the changes would be assessed by my parents, who are over sixty years old and perfectly remember how the media functioned in the times of the Polish People’s Republic. At that time, only two state television channels were available, and the flagship news program was the notorious “Dziennik Telewizyjny”. It was this program that was replaced by “News”, which is now also history.

They both said that history was coming full circle, but they emphasized that with redoubled force. At first I didn’t know what they meant because I didn’t live in those times and don’t know all the historical context. It turned out that they did not have in mind the issue of technology development, which is completely different today than in 1989.

– When communism ended, everything progressed very slowly. This new television was created slowly, but here you can see that the change is instantaneous – my dad explained. However, this answer was not satisfactory for me, because it did not touch on the most important point, i.e. the change in the quality of the message conveyed by the materials. He replied that “Dziennik Telewizyjny” and “Wiadomości” were not the same:

There was no insulting or ridiculing in ‘Dziennik Telewizyjny’. They said their own thing and lied, e.g. that there was a lot of food, which was not true, but they were polite, smiled and did not offend people. They mocked the West, but did not attack Poles. The communists knew what the nation thought about their television, but they turned a blind eye to it. Besides, they also brought out some human issues to help them. And in “Wiadomości” and TVP Info there was a completely different situation. Political cesspool and rudeness. They fell lower than I thought, said the 68-year-old.

Later he mentioned that he had not watched TVP programs often over the last eight years, but he had watched them and knew that they had always spoken with one voice that favored the interests of the United Right. However, after a while, my mother spoke up and said something that made it much easier for me to understand why today history comes full circle, but with redoubled force:

At that time, most journalists and actors who worked on television were internally against communism. The vast majority supported the change of the system, so the transition for TVP to the new reality was also easier and from today’s perspective, perhaps less revolutionary – added the 65-year-old.