The guest of the program “At the center of events” of Television in Poland was Franciszek Małecki-Trzaskoś, the father of the 11-year-old “youngest parliamentary journalist”, who was the subject of attention of all editorial offices after she was dismissed by President Jarosław Kaczyński during a conversation with journalists.
The host, Jakub Maciejewski, author of the text (in the weekly “Sieci”) about the interviews with the girl, asked the child’s father whether he and his daughter had journalistic IDs and parliamentary passes. Małecki-Trzaskoś replied:
The Chancellery of the Sejm issued these passes with the stipulation that if Sarah was present in parliament, she had to be accompanied by herself or her husband.
The presenter asked further with a tone of surprise in his voice:
But where did the idea come from that an eleven-year-old would enter the Sejm with a microphone, ask questions to politicians and then publish it? The first reactions on the Internet show that this is child abuse!
The girl’s father told about the beginning of the idea that Sara would become – in accordance with the law – the youngest journalist in the Sejm.
There is no doubt that the idea is controversial. Let’s just start from the beginning. Sara, a third-grader who lives in Gdańsk, next to the Occupational Health and Safety classroom, next to the European Solidarity Centre, next to the Museum of the Second World War, is a girl who is extremely aware of the world around her. Sara is aware that Poland is part of a treaty called the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Within this convention, Sara knows that she has the right to obtain information and to express her own views and opinions. At the beginning of this year, Sara asked me if, because of my professional duties, I would travel to the Sejm, where I was making the film “Testing Time Pandemic” together with editor Cieślak. Sara asked if she could do it too. After consulting with my wife, after consulting with a speech therapist from a psychological and pedagogical clinic (…), we came to the conclusion that, contrary to appearances, this is a good idea. The Polish Press Act, although very archaic since it dates back to the previous regime, which is worth mentioning, does not provide for a lower age limit. Contrary to what anonymous haters say, the Press Act does not say that a journalist must work. A journalist may work not on assignment, but for a specific editorial office. And here we have this unique situation. Sara is doing her journalistic work for a specific editorial office. This is perfectly legal.
Maciejewski pressured the program guest whether this whole campaign will not harm the child, since journalistic and political life is full of tensions that adults do not always tolerate well, let alone people as young as Sara. However, Małecki-Trzaskoś argued:
The Sejm is a special place, but undoubtedly a much safer place than some forest where teenagers film and post on the Internet, for example, to lynch their peers. I will say even more: Sara not only does not have access to social media, i.e. Sara does not post physical content, she does not edit descriptions of this content, Sara also does not have access to read comments. Of course, some comments, after selection, can be read only for my eyes.
The presenter also addressed Sara’s strange questions, i.e. she raises issues that are extremely complicated and children would rather not understand. Maciejewski explained:
Sara asked a question to Deputy Minister of National Defense Cezary Tomczyk. That’s how she put it, still in childish language, about the expulsion of Jews from Poland after World War II. As I understand it, it was around 1968. And I wonder if an eleven-year-old girl understands the complexity of the situation. Because I’m sure even Tomczyk doesn’t understand it. When asked about the Warsaw Uprising, MP Joński placed it in 1988, which means he would have witnessed the Warsaw Uprising. There are many historical differences of opinion about the year 1968 these days, between stories about scores within the Polish United Workers’ Party and accusing Poles of anti-Semitism. And here the question arises: is this what you intend, or is this not some kind of political game with a double meaning? Does Sarah understand the complexity of her own questions?
Sarah’s father argued:
I will answer now. A year ago, the audience first made such a big trip to Warsaw. When we left the Old Town, Sara saw the monument to the Little Insurgent and asked me if it was a child or a boy? I then said that children took part in the Warsaw Uprising. Her peers did not shoot, but they helped, took an active part and died for our homeland, shedding their blood. A few days later, Sara and our friends visited the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews, where she saw the history of people of Jewish nationality from the beginning of time to the disastrous events that were the result of intra-party games in the fifties and sixties. After some time, Sara visited the Museum of the Second World War. It was just before our visit to the Sejm, when she herself asked about it and saw a deportation van. She saw these photos of Jews who were murdered during the Holocaust and asked me if this nightmare ended then? Was this the moment? I said: No, even after World War II there were tensions about this. Sarah asks: “But what?” And I said: Are you going to the Sejm? Questions!
Franciszek Małecki-Trzaskoś said that politicians should be ashamed if they cannot answer similar questions, while Sara or he himself do nothing inappropriate. You can watch the entire program below:
WATCH THE INTERVIEW:
Source: wPolityce