In the spotlight: Bronisław Wildstein

What is surprising, however, is that the new president of public television, Bronisław Wildstein, is not a member of the party. Moreover he is an active journalist, a profession which many PiS members are convinced is intent upon portraying the party in a negative light. Despite this, like most PiS members, Wildstein is an ardent anti-communist and a supporter of political vetting.

Wildstein made headlines last year when he published a list from the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN), which contained 240,000 names of former and potential secret-service agents and collaborators. The publication brought condemnation from those claiming the list contained names of innocent people, and support from those who see the need to be more open about Poland's communist past. For his actions Wildstein was fired from the daily Rzeczpospolita.

During his student years, Wildstein was an active opposition figure in Kraków, where he co-founded the independent student movement. He was close friends with the late Stanisław Pyjas - a student/activist murdered by communist secret police in 1977. Wildstein has been on a mission to uncover the details of this murder and its perpetrators ever since.

When Martial Law was introduced he was in France, where he stayed until 1989 working as an editor of emigre monthly Kontakt and as a correspondent for Radio Free Europe. After he returned to Poland, Wildstein was the head of public radio in Kraków, and later worked in Życie Warszawy, Życie, Rzeczpospolita and the weekly Wprost.