logo in the 1960s
Background The origins of Polish television date back to the late 1930s when numerous tests were carried out on top of the
Warsaw Prudential building to transmit
monochrome images at a 20-kilometer radius. However, the beginning of
World War II interrupted further attempts at establishing regular receivers. The prime state television corporation, the
Telewizja Polska, was founded after the war in 1952. The foundation date corresponds to the time of the very first regularly televised broadcast which occurred at 07:00 p.m
CET on 25 October 1952. Snippets of world and domestic events was given only spontaneously and at various times by different people. Most reliable sources of information in the 1950s were newspapers, most notably
Trybuna Ludu (People's Tribune). The first newscast was the short-lived
Wiadomości Dnia, which aired on 30 April 1956 and lasted until the end of 1957. The first televised weather forecast also appeared on 4 September 1957. The
Polish United Workers' Party and the
Polish Politburo announced that
Dziennik Telewizyjny, a government-controlled news program, will begin on 1 January 1958. The
abbreviation for the program was "DTV" until the late 1970s (when it was shortened to just "DT"), but the show became widely known as the
Dziennik (English: Journal) to the general public for the next three decades. The 55 km-range signal
antenna in the shape of a butterfly was situated on the
spire of the
Palace of Culture and Science in Warsaw, at an altitude of 227 meters. With the development of Polish television, other related
spin-offs and side shows accompanying the Dziennik were introduced. On 2 October 1970 the second channel,
TVP2, was launched. From 1965 until 1976, the evening edition of Dziennik was replaced by
Monitor, which was presented by Karol Małcużyński and Edmund Męclewski. On 26 June 1986, a second but shorter and more direct
newsflash called
Teleexpress aired on TVP1. Since 30 March 1987, a third program also showing snippets,
Panorama, began airing on TVP2 as an alternative to Teleexpress. Under
martial law in Poland, from December 1981 Dziennik was presented by officers of the
Polish Armed Forces or newsreaders in military uniforms and broadcast 24-hours a day. The running time has also been extended to 60 minutes. The program returned to its original form in 1983. The first colour episode of Dziennik was transmitted on 6 December 1971. The final telecast aired on 17 November 1989.
Controversies and legacy The program was highly controversial throughout its existence as it did not report news that could trigger anti-government sentiment. Similar newscasts were used for identical purposes were present in all countries of the
Eastern Bloc, most known being
Aktuelle Kamera from the
German Democratic Republic and
Vremya from the
Soviet Union. Dziennik was known to be strikingly objective about world affairs and, almost in every case, each episode featured a coverage from foreign countries where corruption, war and scandals were abundant. The goal was to minimize the effects of the issues that were occurring in Poland at the time, such as the
1968 Polish political crisis,
1970 protests,
June 1976 protests and the near-
bankruptcy of the Polish People's Republic in the 1980s. The
newsreaders often used
emotive and loaded text with a pro-government and pro-
socialist bias. The tone also used was very formal, serious and at times
nostalgic, particularly during national holidays. The actors rarely smiled and addressed guests or referred to people as
obywatelu ("citizen", equivalent to
comrade in other communist states) instead of
Pan/Pani (Sir/Mrs) –
T–V distinction. On 28 October 1989, actress
Joanna Szczepkowska was invited to the studio to discuss her theatrical career. Instead, she asked the host if she could deliver a message to the viewers. After being granted permission Szczepkowska stated "Ladies and Gentlemen. On 4 June 1989 communism has ended in Poland." This occurred shortly after
Tadeusz Mazowiecki was elected as the first non-communist Prime Minister of Poland. The situation was unusual as the TV anchor agreed to Szczepkowska's message on a communist-funded program, which glorified
Marxism-Leninism and socialism for decades. Numerous
epigrams and jokes about
Dziennik surfaced in the 1980s; one suggesting that "the only factual aspect of the show was the date". Between 1995 and 2005, satirist
Jacek Fedorowicz presented a satirical television show on TVP1, also titled , which often recalled the most infamous texts and lines from
Dziennik. In contemporary Poland, the older generation tends to name every news program "
Dziennik", regardless of the station or channel. The word "
Dziennik" can also be synonymous with terms like propaganda and
disinformation, especially when referring to televised news. ==Notable newsreaders==