Polish Socio-Cultural Journals after 1989

Narrations on Polish contemporary culture usually present the year 1989 as a turning point which was both important and problematic. Certainly, environ the mentioned year there were expectations for the great breakthrough in literature. However, did it really happen?- the researchers’ opinions on that matter have always been divided. In case of periodical press, the year 1989 is regarded as an actual beginning of the market transformations. At that time, “the media retrieval” began. Magazines could be either established or led out from the so-called underground. A flood of new socio-cultural magazines continued till the mid-90s, most of them were established between 1989- 1993. Along with multiplication of different titles, deterioration in their financial condition and lack of possibilities to win a new reader, could have been observed. It became clear that without any support from the state they were not able to manage on the market. Every year, awarding of ministerial grants arouses controversy among the interested entities, since the support suffices only for several titles whereas the number of the interested parties is much bigger.

Paweł Sarna