Head of the Law and Justice parliamentary club, Mariusz Blaszczak stormed out of a current affairs programme hosted by Monika Olejnik on Radio ZET, Sunday, after which he accused her of “raping journalistic integrity” in a letter to the Media Ethics Council.

The move to leave the studio came after the “Seventh Day of the Week” programme’s discussion panel was commenting on a quotation by head of Law and Justice, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, who had said on Saturday that political opposition in Poland was being “annihilated.”

After protesting Olejnik’s leadership of the programme, Blaszczak (pictured right) walked out after a heated discussion, which included guest politicians from across the spectrum, saying first that Monika Olejnik is “biased, aggressive and derisory.”

Olejnik, who has run the show for ten years, but perhaps became better known for her tough interviewing style on the privately-owned TVN24 news station, told Blaszczak during the programme that “you can leave if you want.” The Law and Justice parliamentary head left moments afterwards.

“Monika Olejnik did not behave towards me as an objective journalist and host running the show […] but as extremely biased, invasive, unobjective, [furthermore] making it very difficult for me to make my voice heard,” Blaszczak wrote in his letter of objection to the Media Ethics Council.

After the incident happened during Sunday’s programme, Olejnik said on-air that in the ten years she has run the show “this is the first time something like this has happened.” Continuing, Olejnik stated that “Lech Kaczynski and many other politicians have been on the programme, and there have been varying situations, but this is a first.”

This is not the first time opposition Law and Justice has cried foul over alleged biased journalism. It has boycotted the TVN as well as Superstacja stations, with Jaroslaw Kaczynski blaming TVN24 for “dragging politics through the gutter” in the summer of 2008. (jb)

Source: PAP/IAR/Radio Zet