In this article, I present the results of an analysis of print media reporting on the spectacular trial in 1984 against the murderers of Jerzy Popiełuszko in communist Poland. The aim of my research is to show how the coverage contributed to the de-legitimization of the Communist Party despite the mass media system's tight structures of control. Because of mass media functionality, the coverage of this event contributed to political transformation not only by publicizing a hitherto tabooed topic but also by establishing an initial point for informed public criticism of the government.

Keywords:
(communist) governmental legitimacy, Jerzy Popiełuszko, mass media system, political transformation
© 2020 by the Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. Please direct all requests for permission to photocopy or reproduce article content through the University of California Press's Reprints and Permissions web page, https://www.ucpress.edu/journals/reprints-permissions.
2020
The Regents of the University of California
You do not currently have access to this content.