Court orders Newsweek to publish correction
A court has ordered the Newsweek.pl portal to publish a correction to an article from January 2017, which contained incorrect information concerning 'Polish concentration camps.'
According to the Polish League Against Defamation (RDI), which complained about the article, the ruling is important, and the first of its type in Poland.
"The court ordered Newsweek.pl to publish a correction over historical errors contained in an article by Paula Szewczyk about the book 'A Small Crime.' No Polish concentration camps existed in Poland after 1945, only communist labour camps created by the Russians! This is a precedence-setting verdict, from now on all Poles can call for a correction of historical errors about Poland in the press," as stated in a press release on Friday from the RDI.
The RDI highlighted, the fact that in January 2017 an article had appeared on the Newsweek.pl portal, the contents of which - according to RDI founder Maciej Swirski - contained "historical errors." Swirski maintained at the time that there were never any Polish concentration camps in Poland. Newsweek.pl refused to publish a correction, as a result of which the matter went to court.
"The court wholly shared our argumentation, recognising that in principle every Pole has the right to request a correction of untrue information about Polish concentration camps after 1945. It is good that we managed to persuade the court that if every Pole cannot clarify lies about Poland, then newspapers in Poland, and even more so around the world, will be able to print any lie and nobody will be able to oppose them. From the perspective of press law, it was certainly a difficult case for the court to resolve," stated Monika Brzozowska-Pasieka, the lawyer behind the case.
According to the RDI, it is an "extremely important verdict and the first of its kind" in Poland and may prove a breakthrough judgement "in the area of who can call for a correction." "The practice until now has been that only someone indicated in a press article had that possibility. But since the text affected Poles, in the court's view, every Pole has the right to call for a correction," the RDI asserted in the press release, adding that the decision supported the fight against incorrect press information globally.
The Polish League Against Defamation initiates and supports activities aimed at correcting untrue information appearing in the media concerning Polish history, especially during the Second World War, as well as promoting knowledge of Polish history and culture. (PAP)
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