TVP Vilnius on air from today

September 17, at 18.30, after more than a year of preparations, will start a new channel of Polish Television – TVP Vilnius. Its offer includes a daily news program and current affairs programs prepared by journalists of Polish media in Lithuania. On the new TVP channel, current, important and interesting information about Polish matters, culture, entertainment, history and tradition will be presented.

– We are all ready to work, trained and thirsty for daily entry to live broadcasts. Of course, we experience some stage fright, because we are dealing with a very responsible project. However, we are getting ready for the start so long and honestly that we are convinced that we will succeed – on the eve of the start of the broadcast, Edyta Maksymowicz, the head of the TVP Off-site Editorial Office in Vilnius, TVP correspondent in Lithuania for many years, editor of Wilnoteka, told Kurier Wileński.

The TVP Vilnius project has been discussed since 2009. There was even a working group established on Polish Television. However, the project was implemented only after almost a decade.

– When Poland and Lithuania celebrated the 100th anniversary of regaining independence, during the visit of the Polish prime minister to Lithuania, it was again said that both Lithuanians and Poles are heavily influenced by Russian television, and there is too little Polish word on television here. Then the prime ministers came to the conclusion that local Poles must be offered programs in Polish. A vibrant, active, dynamic community that is able to make its own television lives here – said the head of TVP Vilnius.

Money was also a good, ambitious idea. The Chancellery of the Prime Minister (KPRM) has allocated money for trainings that were conducted by the Vilnius Region Foundation and Polish Television. Later the project became exclusive to TVP.

– Today we have a large team of over 25 people. The most important people in the editorial office are the publishers who decide what will be on the program. There are reporters who submit topics for daily publication and implement them. There are also production managers who organize the work of entire teams. Operators take photos, significantly helping in the creation of materials. It is also worth emphasizing that our journalists fully realize the programs – that is, they not only record the statements, but also edit the material, which is a novelty on television. But we also have fitters who help us – commented Edyta Maksymowicz.

The head of the Editorial Office of TVP in Vilnius added that in the future the team will be even more developed. Current collaborators were chosen mainly on the basis of enthusiasm and willingness to learn. However, experience, although welcome, was not one of the basic criteria.

– It is known that experience is always very important, but it is not the factor that determines everything. For example, we have operators and journalists who, when coming to us, started from scratch. Today, however, they are doing great, they take good photos, write interesting texts and are fluent in their materials. The most important thing is that a person is active, willing to work, study and does not count those hours spent on work but is constantly looking for opportunities to improve. Journalism is not only a profession, but an idea for life – noted the editor of Wilnoteka.

The interlocutor emphasized that almost all employees of TVP Vilnius come from the Vilnius region.

– I am glad that our team consists almost entirely of local fry. They are people who were either connected with journalism or just acquiring experience in this profession. We also have several people from Poland. For example, one of our publishers, Karolina Matuszewska, comes from Warsaw. She finished Baltic studies, she learned the Lithuanian language, she has lived in Lithuania for several years, knows her realities very well, she has become very well acquainted with the local population and she has really become her man here – Maksymowicz said.

In the first broadcasting period, the TVP Vilnius program in terrestrial broadcast will be broadcast on TVP Polonia. At. At 18.30 there will be a two-hour “Vilnius band” every day. The most important program of this band will be Info Vilnius – a daily news program broadcast from Monday to Friday at 18.30. On Saturdays historical series will be broadcast, and on weekdays there will be series of programs and reportages in the programming.

The program proposals also include the weekly news and journalistic program “Wilnoteka”, which will now be broadcast every Thursday at 20.25.

– From the beginning, the Chancellery of the Prime Minister stressed that this project is about strengthening the media potential of Polish communities in Lithuania. So, it’s not like someone will come to us and make a product for us. We ourselves, Poles in Lithuania, do everything. We got not a fish, but a great rod, which we have to use ourselves knowing the needs of local residents. In the near future, we plan to launch two more programs, socio-political, which will summarize the most important events, and socio-cultural, to engage our young viewers to co-create the program with us. In the future, we will be expanding the channel so that it becomes 100% independent in terms of original content – said Edyta Maksymowicz.