The editor of the online version of one of Poland’s leading newsmagazines describes the phenomenon of “orchestrated” social media attacks on journalists in a new interview with the International Press Institute (IPI).

Łukasz Lipiński, editor of Polityka.pl, said social media in Poland had been taken over by political fighting and troll attacks on journalists.

“If you publish something not to the liking of some political party, you don’t have a discussion from this party, but (rather) you get a troll attack”, he said. “It’s obvious that it’s orchestrated and paid people are doing their job (here).”

The interview was filmed during a week-long IPI visit to Poland in June as part of IPI’s Ontheline project, which seeks to raise awareness about the impact of online attacks on press freedom as well as collect and share strategies developed by newsrooms to protect journalists from the phenomenon.