I hate contemporary journalism

“I was attracted by The Third World, Africa. [Therefore] I've chosen a foreign journalism; and the wars are its beloved subject.” That is how Wojciech Jagielski, a famous Gazeta Wyborcza journalist, describes his job.

Jagielski, born in 1960, is a prominent journalist, writer and war correspondent in Africa and Asia. As a writer he was awarded many times. One of his greatest achievement is a nomination for the Nike prize for the book “A pray for rain.” At the beginning of his career he wrote pure journalism. Then, as he claims, he decided to be “braver than Kapuściński” and he took a step further enriching his writing with elements of fiction.

“The first evil thing in journalism is the fact that information has become a product,” the writer complains, “But this is not the point. The point is that a product has to be wrapped up – and the wrapping constitutes the essence.”

Jagielski claims that the journalism in the 21^st century has lost its magic. “It is more about the image of the journalists itself,” he says, “than the value and credibility of the information. The real aim of the contemporary journalists is their publicity.” However, he chooses to still stay sincerely responsible for his words.

In his book entitled The Night Walkers, Jagielski uses one of literary techniques; an introduction of composite characters. Such a literature trick was a result of a simple fact – the author wouldn't be able to all about the 20 children soldiers that he talked to. Instead, he compressed the stories and presented them through the two heroes.

As Jagielski said, he does not lie; he just tries to present as much reality as he can. He devotes all of his work and effort to his wife making it extremely meaningful and valuable. “ Everything I do, I do it for my wife.”

'The first evil thing in the world is the fact that information has become a product. But this is not the point. The point is that a product has to be wrapped up – and the wrapping constitutes the essence,'says Jagielski, a famous Gazeta Wyborcza journalist.

'The first evil thing in the world is the fact that information has become a product. But this is not the point. The point is that a product has to be wrapped up – and the wrapping constitutes the essence,'says Jagielski, a famous Gazeta Wyborcza journalist.