Professor Roman Baecker of Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń told the Polish Press Agency (PAP) that nearly all Russian outlets were reporting on the attacks. Journalists were avoiding interpretation and presenting the views of different sides, including the Polish government, he said.
“This does not stem from a duty of journalistic reliability, but from a need to shape a view, consistent with the Kremlin’s general propaganda line, of a weak Europe torn by conflicts”, Baecker said.
He said the same approach applied to Russian coverage of student protests in France. Accurate, carefully chosen facts were more effective than a crude explanation that could be rejected, he said.
Defence Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz said on Friday that a possible Russian angle should be considered. Even if Russia did not inspire the attacks, he said, exploiting such situations “is certainly always part of the strategy, the philosophy of action of the Russian Federation”. He cited Russian disinformation during Poland’s floods, when false claims circulated that hundreds had died.
The coverage follows three attacks this week in the Mazowsze region. On Thursday, a 15-year-old former pupil attacked three people at a primary school in Leszczydół-Nowiny. A caretaker died despite attempts to revive her, and the headteacher and a teacher were hurt as they tried to restrain him.
On Wednesday, a 19-year-old stabbed nine people in Ostrołęka: five pupils, two teachers and two bystanders. The same day in Sierpc, police detained a 17-year-old who was planning a school attack.
On Saturday, a 21-year-old student stabbed three women at an adult education school in Warsaw.
(jh)
Source: PAP, Polish Radio