ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to show how journalism professionals act in the policy-making process and to look at the impact of regime pressure on the tactics used by Polish journalists to act out their professional roles. Much of the journalism profession's function as a "mirror of public opinion" for the elite occurs through private channels. The methods used by journalists to enter the policy process during a given period depend on the kind of pressure placed on the journalism profession by the political elite. In a Edward Gierek-style system, journalists are brought into the elite so that their policy-making activity is unpublished, while their published work is intended to present a consistent front to manipulate public behavior. The impact of elite attitudes toward the press on journalists' behavior is increased by the elites' own policy on social and economic modernization in Poland. Journalists are being denied the opportunity to build their public professional image and, therefore, their prestige.
