Radio Maryja is a controversial Catholic radio station founded (in Toruń, Poland, on December 9, 1991) and directed by Father Tadeusz Rydzyk. Radio Maryja supported the victorious Law and Justice party and Lech Kaczyński during the parliamentary and presidential elections in Poland in 2005. The name "Maryja" is a traditional form of the name "Mary", referring to Mary, mother of Jesus by the Polish Roman Catholic community. This article on Radio Maryja is not to be confused with "Radio Maria" an international Catholic radio broadcasting service.

Programming schedule
- news service - six times daily
- rosary - three times daily
- discussion on The Cathechism of the Catholic Church - three times daily
- transmission of the Holy Mass - every day
- breviary - three-four times daily
- transmissions of the Pope's pilgrimages
- Chaplet of Divine Mercy
- the unction to The Black Madonna of Częstochowa
- "A program for farmers", "A program for children", "Unfinished conversations"
Ownership and finances
The radio station is owned by the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (Warsaw Province), and is financed through donations from its audience ("The Radio Maryja Family"). Due to a concordat with the Vatican that grants certain privileges to the Church, Radio Maryja is not bound by any accountancy rules. Therefore Radio Maryja does not disclose the exact sources of its financing (nor of any of its enterprises), and does not pay taxes.[1] Radio Maryja is one of several Catholic media outlets in Poland.
Audience
Radio Maryja attracts a large audience, whose size isn't exactly known. The station frequently claims that it has "millions of listeners", but market research usually shows lower numbers: approx. 1.2 million people daily. The audience peaked in 1998 and was estimated to be around 2 million listeners. The station estimates that it is listened to by well over 10% of adults in Poland[2], but the most comprehensive market research by Radio Track [3] for the whole of Poland (June-July 2005) shows a 2.5% "share of listening time". [4]
The Radio Maryja Family
is an movement formed from the radio station's listeners. Many supporters of the Radio identify themselves with the "Radio Maryja Family" (Rodzina Radia Maryja) , which opponents call "Mohair berets", a pejorative or satirical expression.
The Radio Maryja Family holds a pilgrimage to Częstochowa every year. In 2006 a group of 200,000 members of the Radio Maryja Family visited Jasna Góra in Częstochowa. The Radio Maryja Family also visited the Vatican and met Pope John Paul II in 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997 and 2000. These pilgrimages help to recruit the audience in a country where the cult of Mary (mother of Jesus) is particularly strong.
Related enterprises
Enterprises related to Radio Maryja and initiated by Father Rydzyk are Telewizja Trwam ("I persist" TV network) [5], Nasz Dziennik ("Our Daily"), the Nasza Przyszłość ("Our Future") Foundation, the Lux Veritatis Foundation, and the Wyższa Szkoła Kultury Społecznej i Medialnej ("The College of Social and Media Culture") in Toruń. The rector of the School is Father Rydzyk. Radio Maryja's opponents say that these enterprises are dominated by Father Rydzyk and call them the "Media Empire of Father Rydzyk", or the "Rydzyk holding company" ([6], article in Polish).
Controversies
The station has been criticized by Polish and international media. A recent survey on European "hate radio" prepared by Radio Netherlands cited Radio Maryja as controversial. One of Radio Maryja's programs, "Unfinished Conversations", is, according to the magazine Polityka, "dominated by intolerance and authoritarianism". Lech Wałęsa, a former president of Poland who is also a human rights activist, announced that "Radio (Maryja) is lying if it considers itself a Catholic station". [7] Nevertheless, Radio Maryja claims that it is the only truthful radio station in Poland. It accuses other media, mainly Gazeta Wyborcza, of conspiring to attack the "only entirely Polish radio station" that preaches the gospel and teaches prayer.
Conflict with Vatican
The Vatican has voiced deep concern about Radio Maryja [8] [9]. The papal nuncio in Poland, Archbishop Józef Kowalczyk, wrote to the Polish Episcopate requesting their aid "to overcome difficulties caused by some transmissions and the views presented by Radio Maryja".[10] In response in May 2006 Polish bishops established an oversight body. Nevertheless the controversial Father Rydzyk remains the director of Radio Maryja and the radio seems to have ignored the warning from the Vatican ambassador.[11] Several Polish bishops had previously criticized Radio Maryja for spreading opinions incompatible with the Episcopate's stand.[12] According to the official Vatican web page: "Radio Maryja (...) became much more involved in spreading risky politics than in spreading the Gospel."[13]
- However, some Polish bishops support the work of Father Rydzyk and are openly friendly to his radio station. Also Pope John Paul II initially supported and praised Radio Maryja. Critics note that the Radio Maryja case has divided the Polish Episcopate for a long time.[14][15][16]
Antisemitism
Critics [17] say that the radio station crosses the line of xenophobia and antisemitism [18] and propagates concepts such as żydokomuna. Segments of many of these radio broadcasts are ridiculed on satirical websites such as Emigranci. In one broadcast Radio Maryja listeners were informed that the Jewish people fled from Poland with all the Jewish gold (listen) and that Jews have a negative effect on the birth rate of the Polish people (listen). The Council for Media Ethics referred to the station's "weakly documented accusations" as "primitive anti-Semitism".[19] Commentators have spoken out on the station against the efforts to gain reparations for losses sustained by Jews during the Holocaust, sometimes using pejorative terms such "exacting tribute". For instance, Stanisław Michalkiewicz in April, 2006, was reported in the Gazeta Wyborcza as stating that "men from Judea ... are trying to surprise us from behind", and referring to the World Jewish Congress as "a main firm in the Holocaust Industry". [20] Michalkiewicz responded by calling the Gazeta Wyborcza "an unusual example of the Jewish fifth column in Poland" and "jewish newspaper for Poles".
- Supporters of the station claim that the occasional hate or anti-semitic statements transmitted by Radio Maryja are rare and originate mostly from its listeners and not workers.[21]
Conspiracy theories
A recent affair with the WSI, presented on this radio station by Antoni Macierewicz, purports to show how society was steered by the secret services. The station has claimed that the freemasons rule the world and that the Jews will conquer the world (listen). It was once broadcast that the Jews rule the country and their government should be removed with violence and that Radio Maryja should take the power (listen). Jewish people working in the World Trade Center were accused of betrayal and conspiracy as they supposedly knew everything ahead of time.
False historical statements
In January 2000 Ryszard Bender, a historian from the Catholic University of Lublin announced on Radio Maryja that the German Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz was at the beginning not a place of mass extermination, but a place of hard work.[22]
Agitation against European integration
Radio Maryja strongly opposed Poland's joining of the European Union which eventually happened in 2004. [23] The station also suggested that a close cooperation with Russia would better serve Poland's national interests than joining of NATO (which happened in 1999).[24] Until 2003 the Catholic Radio Maryja was also aired on shortwave from Russia.
Support for death penalty
Radio Maryja has promoted the political program of Law and Justice, a Polish conservative party, which together with the League of Polish Families seeks to introduce the capital punishment in Poland and throughout Europe [25],[26],[27]. The support of Radio Maryja for death penalty contrasts strongly with the mainstream teachings of the Catholic church.[28].
Involvement in politics
Direct involvement in political issues is against the Catholic Church's directives for priests.[29] Nevertheless, conservative politicians from major political parties are often invited to speak on Radio Maryja. In February 2006 the Law and Justice party signed a key agreement with two other political parties. To the fury of the Polish press, only journalists from Radio Maryja's sister television network Trwam and its director Father Tadeusz Rydzyk, who actively supported Law and Justice during the election, were allowed in the room.
- The president of the Polish National Broadcasting Council, Elzbieta Kruk, stated that she has no authority to act in regard to these complaints, as she has been forced to step down as a result of having been appointed by Polish president Lech Kaczynski, rather than the council as a whole; critics, however, suggest that it is the result of the government's fear of alienating the station's dedicated audience, who make up an especially significant fraction of the constituency of the new conservative governing party, Law and Justice.[30]
- In contrast, in March, 2006, Polish left literary critic and television personality Kazimiera Szczuka satirized a young woman who frequently recites prayers on Radio Maryja, not knowing that the woman was confined to a wheelchair. Despite Szczuka's public apology, she was found guilty of "insulting a disabled person and mocking her religion" by the Polish National Broadcasting Council, and the station on which she had appeared was fined the equivalent of $125,000;[31] according to the Polish press, the highest fine the Council had ever levied. The sole dissenting member of the Council, Wojiech Z. Dziomdziora, stated that "It is probably right to say" that the political support of the radio station for the ruling party "is the real reason" for the serious punishment of Ms. Szczuka, compared to the free hand given the station's disparaging comments on other's religions.[32]
- The Prime Minister of Poland himself, Jarosław Kaczyński, defended the freedom of Father Director's media and stated that "An attack on Radio Maryja is an attack against freedom" (published by Radio Maryja[33], in Polish). Mr. Kaczyński joined the 15th anniversary celebrations of Radio Maryja and praised the station as a source of 'comfort and hope' for Poles.[34]
Trivia
- The station used to continuously broadcast a RDS signal for traffic announcements making car radios in Poland automatically switch to Radio Maryja (see Usenet post: [35], in Polish).
- In 1996 an anonymous person phoned Radio Maryja and spoke vulgar language to the priest hosting a live program (article in Polish). As a result Radio Maryja uses a delay loop which allows them to filter cumbersome callers' comments.
- Radio Maryja currently broadcasts on FM frequencies in Poland, via satellite and the Internet. In the past it was also aired on shortwave from Russia.
- While the usual greeting used in the Roman Catholic Church is: "Praised be Jesus Christ!", Radio Maryja and its listeners say: "May Jesus Christ and Mary ever Virgin be praised".
- Formally the Radio Maryja Family is part of the Roman Catholic Church, and not a Christian denomination or a sect. [36]
- The official Catholic radio station in Poland is Radio Józef [37]. As opposed to Radio Maryja, it rarely deals with politics.
- A Google search for 'siedziba szatana' (Polish for 'Satan's seat') results in the Radio Maryja homepage. This is due to a Google bomb.
External links
- "Radio Maryja - The Catholic Voice in Your Home" official web site
- Radio Netherlands feature on controversial European radio stations including Radio Maryja
- Tel Aviv University Report from the Stephen Roth institute for the study of contemporary Racism and Antisemitism
- Radio nasty: Anti-Semitic radio in trouble, The Economist, 12 April 2006
- Radio Maryja Family attempts to offend their hated TV station TVN (no comment video)
- TVN's documentary about Radio Maryja (video in Polish)
- Richard Bernstein, Differing Treatment of Religious Slurs Raises an Old Issue, The New York Times, May 3, 2006.
- Radio Maryja - list of quotations (in Polish)
- Google News: Radio Maryja (results compiled solely by computer algorithms, without human intervention)
- Factbites: Radio Maryja