Government seeking new curbs on journalists, over damaging leaks

Following the publication of daily Rzeczpospolita on power abuse including the famous scandal in Starachowice, the Prime Minister Leszek Miller ordered Justice Minister, Grzegorz Kurczuk to take some steps to curb the frequent leak of information. "Leak of information paralyze the effectiveness of the country" said the government's spokesman on Polish Television TVP and threatened: Enough is enough. Between 2000 and 2003, only in Warsaw-based prosecution offices, there were 36 so called "journalist cases" being investigated. Half of them were related to the publications of Rzeczpo spolita. While authors of articles are being hunted by the prosecution, large economic scandals are ignored by courts and subsequently expire. "Although the journalist law needs to be updated, journalists organizations fear changes made in regulations could make it easier for politicians to put a muzzle on journalist" said Andrzej Krajewski from the Press Freedom Minotoring Center. (Rzeczpospolita, p. A1) A.Z.