The investigation of journalists

The right-wing nationalist Polish government plans to introduce a law under which journalists are to be subjected to investigations aimed at establishing whether they had any connections with the Stasi in the past. Up to now, only politicians and leading civil servants have been obliged to submit to this kind of investigation. In future, all persons born before 1972 who earn more than half of their income through journalistic activities are only to be allowed to work after their past has been investigated. Krzysztof Lozinski, editor in chief of online magazine "Kontrateksty" objects heavily to the new law. "How are the investigators supposed to establish whether Internet journalists have already been investigated or not? Will officers come to the editorial offices? Which offices would that be? In December 2005 I edited 'Kontrateksty' from internet cafes in India and Nepal. Last weekend I worked with my laptop while on holiday at one of the Masurian lakes. And it's no problem to transfer the homepage to a server in the US. The Internet has already beaten censorship in China, Russia, Belarus and Vietnam."

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