MAŁGORZATA HARASZKIEWICZ-NIEWCZAS: Vision of Jew in modern media

On the one hand the media in Poland depict Jews as conspirators, but on he other hand they present shrewd, intelligent Jewish scientists, rabbis and Nobel Prize winners. Each such piece of information may provoke a reaction of a different kind, positive or negative. Some part of the society will find expression of their opinions in these. Despite their assumed objectivity, the media undeniably evoke in the society ambivalent attitudes toward Jews. On the one hand they present Jewish culture, religion, they explain and educate, on the other hand, however, it happens that an ill-considered piece of information or a mental shortcut plus some over-simplistic associations used in order to make the information more clear and widely understood stimulate the projection of otherness and, in some cases, perpetuate the stereotype of a Jew. What we are talking here about are, of course, the reliable, independent media, as these expressing some party, society or any group ideology are, by definition, biased. The most important issue is, however, that any otherness should not be presented by the media solely in a pejorative way, without any reflection.