Report published by the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association results in YouTube channel Media Narodowe removal
The release of a report by the NEVER AGAIN Association into Poland’s Media Narodowe, a far-right online TV/YouTube channel owned by the Independence March Association and subsidized by the Ministry of Culture, has led to the channel being removed from YouTube.
Following months of monitoring and collecting incidents, reports, and complaints, the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association published a report highlighting consistent hate speech, antisemitic and anti-Ukrainian content propagated by Media Narodowe. The report outlines numerous examples of hateful rhetoric and comments, and dangerous, conspiratorial theories promoted on the channel between 2021 and 2023.
Media outlets including the Algemeiner, a newspaper based in New York City, as well as Gazeta Wyborcza, reported on the findings.
Despite numerous complaints by NEVER AGAIN to YouTube flagging Media Narodowe and its content for breaking YouTube’s community standards, the platform failed to react appropriately, up until now.
Media Narodowe (National Media) is owned by the Independence March Association. The Independence March is a far-right event, which takes place in the Polish capital on 11 November, marking Polish Independence Day. The main organiser of the Independence March is Robert Bakiewicz, the editor-in-chief of the YouTube channel .
The channel, which receives state funding, has been spreading hateful, and discriminatory content for several years. It has ‘over 250,000 subscribers’ and produces an ‘average of 100-150 broadcasts per month’, giving the platform high viewership and coverage.
A commonly promoted narrative is the myth of Judeo Communism according to which Jews are seen as carriers of a hostile, subversive ideology with the aim of ruling the world. In one of the interviews on the platform, Wojciech Sumlinski, author of popular books and films denying the facts of the 1941 Jedwabne pogrom, expressed antisemitic insults against Jerzy Urban, whose funeral was held a few days earlier. Sumlinski said Urban was one of the “worst examples of a Judeo-Communism …[..] He was a Jew who hated Poland”. Although Urban was a controversial figure, this does not stand to justify the spread of antisemitic narratives. Alongside this, Sumliski also applied numerous antisemitic labels to various other public figures.
In another interview broadcast on the platform, the host Jan Bodakowski and his guest Marek Skalski disseminated antisemitic content contained in the myth of Judeo-Communism by spreading the false narrative and stereotype blaming Jews for importing Communism to Poland. Bodakowski made extremely problematic accusations, claiming that Jews were “mainly involved in cooperation with the Soviets, not in defending Poland” during the Second World War and added that whilst others were suffering in the People’s Republic of Poland, the “representatives of Judeo-Communism were able to go to the West and live in prosperity”. This is an extremely dangerous narrative, which only serves to spread hatred on antisemitic grounds. These narratives and allegations hold little to no truth and paint a false image surrounding the position of Jews at that time.
In the same month, the host of Media Narodowe, Jan Bodakowski mocked the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah, stating that is it a “homophobic holiday, because they worship Jews who overthrew the Greek dictatorship, which imposed, among other things, the rainbow revolution”. Not only is this comment foremost extremely hateful but it also only serves to spread antisemitic rhetoric of hate based on false narratives surrounding the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah.
Despite receiving public funds, Media Narodowe faced no consequences or repercussions for spreading hateful and discriminatory narratives. However, through the report by the NEVER AGAIN Association, which helped to highlight and expose the platform, Media Narodowe has now been removed and will no longer be permitted to promote antisemitic and hateful content on YouTube.
