Journalist Bernard Łętowski will probably be apologizing for a post on his blog. A few days ago, he presented opinions there concerning a competition to prepare a plan and cost estimate for a campaign advertising the Bory Dolnośląskie region. The competition was organized by the Bolesławiec county head.
Bernard Łętowski was skeptical about the possibility of completing this plan in half a month (those were the conditions of the competition). He admitted that he was a layman in this field, but nevertheless argued that a team of professionals and experts, as well as a great deal of varied data, would be needed to prepare such a cost estimate. After his lengthy explanation of how much work had to go into the document, he expected readers to answer whether it might be the case that someone had known about the competition earlier, had been working on the offer for a long time, and would now eliminate the competition before the start.
It was not journalistic material, so it did not require reliable verification. However, a fragment of Łętowski's text, together with a link to his blog, appeared under a different headline on the local Bolec.Info portal. This time, instead of the innocuous headline devised by Łętowski, a different and very pointed one appeared: “The competition that the county head's colleague's company will win?”
After several days, the competition was decided. The winning company not only has no ties to Cezary Przybylski – the Bolesławiec county head – but, as a commercial corporation, has never been sustained by public money. Axel Springer, the publisher of, among others, the daily newspaper “Fakt,” submitted the most competitively priced offer. And, as we learned unofficially from an Axel Springer employee, preparing such a plan does not require much time or a large team, and the company provides such services.
It therefore turned out, after checking all the leads and options, that there was not the slightest reason to suspect the county head of dishonesty. What is more, the competition was announced so that all activities related to the project would be transparent to citizens.
In a conversation with us, the county head Cezary Przybylski said that he was considering taking legal action against the Bolec.Info editorial team. Marcin Marczewski, who answered the editorial office's phone, said that one of the editors had devised the headline and that he would not say which one specifically. Asked directly whether the editorial team intended to apologize for suggesting that there was cronyism in the county office, he merely encouraged us to read the text again. He also emphasized that he did not feel obliged to answer that question.
One conclusion suggests itself. Keeping an eye on those in power is something one must also know how to do. It cannot be done by just any journalism enthusiast.
At the same time, it should be noted that excessive indulgence toward unreliable amateurs, as demonstrated by our politicians and officials, encourages the actions described above. If serious politicians continue to court this type of portal, they will give it permission to create unchecked, unreliable news that contributes nothing. The harmfulness of this information lies in the fact that it is not created to uncover any irregularities, but to attack one person or another for cheap sensationalism.
(editorial information ii)