JEDRZEJ: Bursting Bubbles and Mixing Media
HOW 5 DIVERGENT MAGAZINES IN POLAND
MANAGED TO UNITE
DECEMBER 31, 2020 — EDWIN VAN DE SCHEUR & HANNAH RICHTER
“I wasn’t engaged in a dialogue, but more of a monologue. And an internal monologue at that.”
We are constantly trapped in our filter bubbles and echo chambers. Not just on social media, but in the news we read and the conversations surrounding this as well. We align ourselves with a specific side of the spectrum, whether we realise it or not. In countries across the world, many media outlets are entrenched in identity politics, and produce content that generates a belonging in one side of the audience, and an outrage in the other side. With an increase in paywalls or donation based media outlets, you are more likely to pay to read news from an outlet whose identity you agree with. But how can you have an open, nuanced conversation if you only look at one side of the spectrum?
Watch our interview with Jędrzej here, or read the article as it continues below:
Jędrzej Malko is a Polish high school teacher and part time journalist, who became frustrated with the way journalism works in Poland and the rest of the world. He found that when he was promoting his articles on his social media, his followers were liking the posts so quickly that it was impossible for them to have actually read the articles. Ultimately, they would ‘like’ the content before they even knew what the content was. Jędrzej remarks that: “I was not getting through to people that had different world views, or didn’t agree with me from the outset. I wasn’t engaged in a dialogue, but more of a monologue. And an internal monologue at that”.
Three years ago, when there was another political crisis in Poland, Jędrzej saw that people weren’t talking to each other, but were talking at each other. He decided something needed to be done. It was not enough to just do the same thing better, he had to find a way to do things differently.
“It’s a challenge to write in a way that’s not preaching to your own choir.”
And so Project Spięcie was born. Pronounced like Spincher, the project’s title has several different meanings in Polish: it can mean a short electrical circuit, or an argument, or tension. It can also mean when you clip things together. This was the perfect name for Jędrzej’s idea, in which he brought together 5 different magazines from across the political spectrum to collaborate.
The project occurs every couple of weeks, whereby a new topic is chosen and each magazine writes a piece on that topic, then on the same day, they publish all the articles. This results in a left wing outlet publishing left wing perspectives on separation of state and church, or on the climate crisis, but then also publishing the right wing side, the catholic side, and the liberal side. And the same happens for each, with the articles from different perspectives available on all sites at one time.
Jędrzej explains three positive outcomes from this collaboration: firstly, for readers. “If you are a reader of just one of these magazines, every few weeks you are confronted with another perspective. It’s easier for you, you don’t have to go around the web looking for different media outlets”. The second positive outcome is for writers and journalists, as they now get the opportunity to write for readers who are not already convinced by their writing. “It’s a challenge to write in a way to present a perspective that’s not preaching to your own choir and not to your own audience.” And finally, the third — perhaps more symbolic — outcome is showing that all of this is possible: “We show that it is possible to engage in that sort of debate and this sort of dialogue. Where the aim is not to convince the other side necessarily...but just to have a space where we can hear each other. A space in which we can simply engage in dialogue and at the end of the conversation, I’m gonna hear you and feel that you have heard me.”
“Project Spięcie has enabled individuals to have a debate surrounded by friction, but to embrace this friction at the same time. ”
Jędrzej believes that if we don’t have a place in society where someone can express their frustrations, or their wants and interests, to the other side — and hear the other side’s too, then “the only other alternative is that you are going to distance yourself from the other person or group. You will feel like they don’t understand you and you can’t understand them”.
This particular problem is growing tremendously right now due to how social media works. For example, Facebook predominantly presents you with content that you like, so you feel happy or safe or comfortable. Or, less often, they present you with something that will result in outrage, and you wonder how a reasonable person is able to agree with this. But project Spięcie has built the space for individuals to let out their frustrations and to hear the other side. It has enabled individuals to have a debate surrounded by friction, but to embrace this friction at the same time.
Initially, Jędrzej was worried that the readers of the magazines would feel like this collaboration was some kind of treason. But for every comment like ‘you traitors’, ‘who are these stalinists and fascists’, and ‘how can you work with them and sit at the same table’, there were plenty more from people saying these types of comments are the best proof of why we need this collaboration. Jędrezj liked this metaphor of ‘how can you sit at the same table’, because for him, “the fact is that you already sit at the same table! If you think of the table as the public sphere or society, then you already sit at this table with people that you don’t agree with. So you can either acknowledge this fact and choose to listen to them, understand them, and present your own points. Or, you can hide away and just stick with the people closest to you”. Understandably, Jędrzej prefers the first option.
Finally, when asked what it takes to bring this type of project to another country, Jędrzej responds: “Just you! Why not, I’m just a high school teacher!”.