Pole-bashing in the press
High-profile members of the British Polish community are accusing the British media of being biased against Poles, but not everyone can see a problem.
MP Daniel Kawczynski blamed the BBC’s immigration coverage for an increase in attacks on Poles and the Federation of Poles in Great Britain complained about a “calculated campaign" against Poles by the Daily Mail.
Spokesman for the federation Wyktor Moszczynski had taken a look at 96 articles published about Polish immigrants over the past one and a half years. He said: “There were about six that could be said to be positive or neutral.
“If, in those articles, you substituted Indian or Jamaican for Polish you’d probably be facing something on a race relations issue.”
The Daily Mail was not available for comment.
Correspondent for Polish national paper Gazeta Wyborcza Magda Gignal could not understand what the fuss was about.
Mrs Gignal said: “The Daily Mail is a tabloid, you can’t take it seriously. They’re just looking for sensation.”
She added: “Obviously there are articles about Polish people hunting birds and eating them or fishing illegally, but immigration is a very popular subject and there are a lot of Polish people here. I never noticed a racism problem."
Exclusive Poles Apart interview with Wyktor Moszczynski
