Media structures & economic framework

 

The situation in the press market in Poland was changing rapidly in the last decade of the 20th century. The direction of changes converged with what was going on in the media market of neighbouring post-communist countries, but on the other hand the Polish press market drew a lot from models spread in western countries.

From 1989 till mid-1994 a ægreat reevaluationê took place, i.e. the readers were getting rid of their old habits and attachement to old titles. What was very symptomatic for the new situation was a quick career of Gazeta Wyborcza and a decrease in regional daily audience as well as the appearance of a varied magazine offer in the press market. In the second half of 1994 a 3-year-long period of popular magazine offer development started. The sales and the number of new magazines were increasing, especially those introduced by huge German publishers (e.g. G+J, Springer) as well as the number of high-circulation weeklies and bi-weeklies addressed mainly to women. It can be stated that the readers went through a euphoric period of  æuncritical trialê. In the years 1998-2000 many publishers, mainly western ¶ from Germany, Switzerland, France, Italy, and the USA, concentrated their efforts on æfillingê empty segments of the press market. A rich offer of women æadvice magazinesê, people and high life magazines appeared in the market at that time.Moreover, the number of magazines addressed to narrow audiences (specialist, hobby, etc.) increased significantly. On the other hand, the daily press market became narrower. During this time there was a decrease in the sales of most of popular magazines. The readers made fundamental decisions in reference to the set of titles read most often. That is why this period is called æthe severe selectionê.

Ryszard Filas in his article 'The Reading Activity of Poles at the Turn of the 21st Century' (Zeszyty Prasoznawcze, 3-4, 2001) presents the newest tendencies of change (1999-2001) in the light of basic data: general statistics from the Central Statistical Office (CTO), the results of newspaper and magazine sales (ZKDP bulletins), and finally research into readership according to PBC standards. The author evaluates several hypotheses which illuminate this state of affairs and define the directions of future changes, especially in the perspective of an growing dependence on trends in world market. This covers equally the influence the economic recession has had upon household budgets in Poland as well as the collapse of the advertising market and the cautionary policy of publishers (the decreasing attractiveness of many publications for readers), as equally the effect of the introduction of VAT upon the printed word, the influence of an increasingly widespread Internet and online versions of newspapers and magazines, the role of commercial television, and finally the assimilation of the media system within Poland to the developed countries of the West.

See:
Press offer
Circulation of Polish press
Daily press in Poland
Magazines
Ownership structure of Polish audio-visual media