Narration of a media event, based on the issue of the Gdańsk Shipyard and the 20th anniversary of the June 4, 1989 elections

Bartłomiej Brach

The article attempts to answer the question how Polish press presents media events and explains how narration is created. In order to research the Gdansk Shipyard issue and the 20th anniversary of the June 4, 1989 elections used were: Kenneth Burke’s dramatic pentad, Daniel Boorstin’s pseudo-event theory and national newspaper content analysis. Outlined were three dominant narrations: pro-government, pro-shipyard and an objective one, all of which presented the events quite differently. It turns out that the number of publications was strictly tied to PR activity of each side. The initial balance between the narrations, with time, changed in favour of more pro-government reports. Prime Minister Tusk’s version prevailed, which resulted in it being eventually ignored by media. Outdated shipyard workers’ narration, taken from early 1980s rhetoric, was one reason for their failure. The article is an introduction to complex research on Polish media events, which will aid in verifying the effectiveness of methods used.

KEYWORDS

narration, solidarity, 1989 elections, pseudo-event, PR