Pseudo-democracy and Media - A Few Reflections

Polls combined with selectively conducted debates turn media—which should act as transmitters—into filters, selectively presenting election platforms and giving voice only to parties that pose the least threat to media interests and avoid radical change. What’s the issue? It’s that this has nothing to do with a democratic, grassroots process of electing representatives.

Three television stations and Polish Radio gave us the grand spectacle of electoral debates. One of the main candidates hesitated a bit, but eventually, they conducted a "everyone against everyone" debate. Or rather, only three debates in a configuration selected by the main players and the media.

In my view, selective debating is scandalous. Not only because the media was not objective, choosing a lineup that, as polls indicated, would have high viewership. Had such debates only aired on commercial television, I wouldn’t hold a grudge. Director Father also selects authorities for his radio listeners. However, the co-organization of the debate by Public Television and Polish Radio, without ensuring that all major election committees could present the core of their platforms in a possibly tense but joint debate, was a disgrace. I believe it marked the end of public television. Waldemar Pawlak of the PSL suggested an interesting debate format—a ten-day debate, each day dedicated to different issues in Polish society. Perhaps the debate didn’t happen because, first, how many Poles were actually waiting for a substantive debate, and second, a quality debate could have embarrassed those more focused on tricks and digs rather than issues. And this is what TVP, PR, TVN24, and Polsat`s TV Biznes served up—three election evenings focused on image and word traps.

We had elections "against" rather than "for." The earlier polls showed who to vote for to make this "against" effective. And it was effective. However, it doesn’t change the fact that the election silence is a complete fiction. Two days of peace is very short. So, I still support my idea from two years ago—polls should be banned, because we`re not choosing party platforms but poll rankings. On the other hand, a two-day election silence may be a nice tradition, but I wonder if it might be better to eliminate it altogether. Perhaps then more people would open their eyes, constantly bombarded by percentages and charts undermining the reasoning behind voting for a particular committee. It would be like constantly changing prices at a store, with the risk of making a decision with no turning back. And you might feel regret that the poll rankings shifted right after you cast your vote.


The traditional two-day election silence amuses me for yet another reason. Two hours before the silence, TVN24 publishes polls without showing percentages or names, but it’s clear that someone is leading with a substantial advantage. Moments later (still before the silence), we see PiS`s campaign staff emptying out and smiles in PO’s headquarters. In a conversation on TVN24, Professor Staniszkis, when asked about PiS`s victory, responds, "What victory?" The other professor explains he meant two years ago. Everything is already clear, but I peeked at Gadu-Gadu. A friend posted results, having received them from a party activist. It turned out she was off by only one percent, and a friend in the editorial office of a nationwide weekly gave me the exact results. Laughter in the audience.

Will it be better in four years? I don’t think so. Despite the great voter turnout, it reminds me of herding seasonal cattle to pasture. What kind of democracy is this, where people massively participate once every four years, marking two crosses?

Before I end this lengthy post-election reflection, one more thing. There was massive outrage over the extension of the election silence and voting in some local districts. To me, it was funny that, allegedly during the silence, a PiS representative went to the electoral commission to complain. Another reason to laugh. How can you allow all voters to vote without publishing polls on time? How can you delay "Dancing with the Stars" by half an hour? Sadly, in Poland, polls have dominated the political language, and for both politicians and indoctrinated voters, the release time of the polls is more important than the official results from the State Electoral Commission.

C.D.N. - in four years, unless the series starts over… after all, as Freddie Mercury sang before he passed away, "The Show Must Go On."

Source: hiperblog.blogspot.com, October 22, 2007
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