The origin of the “Nowy Dziennik – Polish Daily News”

Abstract

Starting a daily newspaper in Polish on the east coast of the USA encountered a lot of obstacles. The paper came into being at the moment when Polish-language press in the USA found itself in a deep crisis.Many factors contributed to a decrease in the number of papers after World War II, among them the process of an accelerated integration of the so-called ethnic groups (including the Polish ethnic group) with the rest of the American society, a change in the role of the Polish Catholic Church in the United States, and above all, the meeting of two emigration groups – the old Polish colony and the war emigration. The problems presented in the Polish-language press were not understood by the newcomers.

The war emigrants, mostly born in the independent Poland, usually having secondary or higher education, with different aims and ideas of freedom, did not accept the press that was preoccupied with ideological debates, which did not fit the reality after World War II.

Also other factors contributed to the crisis, like a change of generations or migrations of ethnic groups within the American society. The decrease, and to a certain degree disappearance of the press in America, was also caused by shortage of professional staff and distribution difficulties. The “Nowy Dziennik” was established in the place of the “Nowy Świat” (“New World”) that had been on the press market from 1919. It was closed down on 1 March 1971.

Among the ten dailies that were being published in 1945, that is at the moment the “Nowy Dziennik” was introduced to the market, the “Dziennik Związkowy” (“Association Daily”) was doing well in Chicago. It was the organ of the Związek Narodowy Polski (Polish National Association), a great insurance organization, by which it is still supported. At that time the “Dziennik Polski” (“Polish Daily”) published in Detroit, Mich., stopped being published. Also the “Dziennik Chicagowski” (“Chicago Daily”) declined (it started to recover at the end of the 80’s). The “Dziennik dla Wszystkich” (“Everbody’s Daily”) in Buffalo, NY, the “Nowiny Polskie” (“Polish News”) in Milwaukee, Wis., and the “Kurier Codzienny” (“Daily Courier”) went bankrupt, too. A great loss for the Polish emigration was closing down the “Kuryer Polski” (“Polish Courier”) – the oldest Polish daily in America.

The “Nowy Dziennik” was established on 27 February 1971. The editor-in-chief was Bolesław Wierzbiański, a co-founder of the newspaper. The position of the manager of the publishing house was taken by Marian Święcicki. The core of the publishing-printing company Intercontinental Printing Corp. (IPC), to which the enterprise that published the “Nowy Dziennik” – Bicentennial Publishing Inc. – was subjected, was constituted by the people who had established the company: Bolesław Wierzbiański, Father Michał Zembrzuski, Rev. Prelate Edward Majewski, Marian Święcicki, Rev. Prelate Franciszek Pałęcki, Bolesław Łaszewski, and Edward Luka, who, indeed, was not among the founders of the paper, but in 1972 joined the group of its publishers.