Drunk president Kwasniewski in Kharkov. How media covered up the 1999 scandal – Dorota Kania

On September 17, 1999, president Aleksander Kwasniewski was caught drinking alcohol and compromising behaviour at the Piatichatki close Kharkiv during the ceremony commemorating the victims of the Katyn crime. Recordings and photographs were conducted by Western media, but there was a long-standing conspiracy of silence in Poland. Only the journalistic “partisan” broke the information blockade.

Scandal in Piatichatki – Kwasniewski with a glass in the cemetery

The celebration in Piatichatki close Kharkiv was to be a symbolic tribute to Polish officers murdered by the NKVD in 1940. Meanwhile, it was there that 1 of the biggest scandals in the past of the Polish presidency occurred.

Aleksander Kwasniewski was photographed and recorded with a glass of vodka in his hand. Witnesses claimed that the president was wobbly on his feet, pale, and had to support his companions. Catherine Piskorska of the Federation of Katyń Families straight assessed that the head of state was drunk.

President's Office: “These are slanders”

The first reaction of the President's Chancellery was unequivocal – allegations were called innuendos. The authoritative announcement explained that the president suffered from a "traumatic right shin overload syndrome". Ryszard Kalisz, then head of the law firm, pushed this narrative.

Over the years, the Left maintained this version. Only the erstwhile ambassador to Moscow, Stanisław Ciosek, admitted openly that the president was under the influence of alcohol, though he tried to justify the “indisposal” I had heated and toasted by an Orthodox clergyman.

TVN, Polsat and TVP – silence and self-censorship

Polsat, TVN and TVP cameras were present. However, as reported by journalists, the material rapidly went to safes and was not aired. Operators would consciously avoid compromising shots.

Polsat had the most complete record, but the station decided to hide it. TVN showed self-censorship, recording only fragments. TVP in turn closed the tape in the safe of president Robert Kwiatkowski.

The only writer to immediately study events was Maria Przełomec from the BBC. However, its material passed almost without echo in Poland – only a tiny note in “Rzeczpospolita” mentioned “the President’s indisposal”.

Journalist ‘partisan’ – how the blockade was broken

There was behind-the-clock information about the recording that 1 of Polsat's employees copied and elevated. This is why a copy of VHS was created, which was utilized in RTL 7. It was only there, on Tuesday after the celebrations, that the drunken president of Poland was shown.

A day later, “Gazeta Polska” published halt cages from this material. It broke the conspiracy of silence. Radio Plus could then trust on press publication and ask Members straight about the compromising behaviour of the head of state.

TVN and Kalisz – misinformation alternatively of truth

Only on Thursday, a fewer days after the events, TVN decided to show his own material. However, the images were powerfully "finished" and the explanation suggested that "nothing large had happened".

Ryszard Kalisz was invited to the studio, who boldly repeated that the president would “not waver at all”. Even the lead Thomas Lis was to be annoyed that he was being tried to tell something on the screen.

“A simple, rude lie”

As the investigative writer Jacek Łęski commented after years, media behaviour – especially TVN – was a classical example of self-censorship and blocking information compromising power.

– It's a disgraceful story. All the major media were afraid to show the truth. If it wasn't for the material leaking and going to RTL 7, Poles would never know about this – emphasized Łęski.

"Gazeta Wyborcza" and media silence

Significantly, in the archives of “Gazeta Wyborcza” from that time it is vain to look for articles describing the case. The only text that appeared was a repetition of the President's Chancellery. So the full substance was silenced in practice.

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