Państwo i Społeczeństwo
2024 (XXIV) nr 1
e-ISSN 2451-0858
ISSN 1643-8299
DOI: 10.48269/2451-0858-pis-2024-1-004
“THIS USED TO BE YOUR FAVOURITE SHOW”. INVOLVEMENT OF THE MEDIA IN THE PROTEST “MEDIA WITHOUT CHOICE” AND ITS PUBLIC PERCEPTION ON THE BASIS OF SELECTED EXAMPLES
Dominika Popielec
ORCID: 0000-0002-9583-0861
The Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin, Faculty of Political Science and Journalism
Abstract
In a democratic system we are used to the media reporting on various demonstrations and social protests. Thanks to the media’s interest protesters have the opportunity to express their position regarding actions that they consider to be unjust. On one occasion, Polish media took advantage of this situation when they expressed their own opposition to a state of affairs by ceasing to publish media content. Instead of the scheduled programmes there appeared the messages: “This used to be your favourite show” and “Media without choice”. In view of this, the aim of this article is to describe this one-day protest by part of the media on 10th February 2021, which was motivated by a proposed bill that would introduce a tax on advertisements. The reactions of the political sphere, the media and society, which constitute how the protest was perceived, are analysed with reference to how the reception of the media protest was portrayed. Use is made of an analysis of the content of selected media in relation to these analytical categories, a comparative method and a case study.
Key words: journalism, media protest, media without choice, Polish media system, politics