EFJ blasts Polish paper for sacking journalists over crash report

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) today criticised the decision to sack the editor-in chief of the Polish daily Rzeczpospolita along with three journalists over a report on the plane crash which killed former President Lech Kaczynski in April 2010.

 

Tomasz Wróblewski, the paper’s editor-in-chief, his deputy Bartosz Marczuk, journalist Cezary Gmyz who wrote the article and internal affairs editor Mariusz Staniszewski lost their jobs on Tuesday, 6 November, on the decision by the supervisory board and the publisher of Rzeczpospolita, Presspublica belonging to Mr. Grzegorz Hajdarowicz.

 

The article entitled "Trotyl in the wreckage of the Tupolev" triggered a political row when it said they had found traces of TNT and nitro-glycerin on the wings and in the cabin of the jet of former Polish President Lech Kaczynski which crashed in Smole?sk, Russia, two years ago, killing the President and 95 members of his delegation.

 

“Dismissing some of the most senior and experienced journalists of a respected daily newspaper in Poland due to their investigative journalism is a scandal,” said EFJ President Arne König. “ We support our affiliate, the Polish Journalists Association (SDP) in its protests against these politically driven dismissals.”

 

In a statement, the SDP also condemned the decision, saying that “We consider the action taken by the Supervisory Board of the owner of “Presspublica” Publishing House against Mr. Cezary Gmyz as a violation of the principles which regulate relations with investigative journalists in free and independent media. We find the attempts to make the author disclose his sources and details of investigation unacceptable.”

For more information contact the EFJ at 32 2 235 2200.

 

The EFJ represents about 300,000 journalists in over than 30 countries worldwide.