Polish forests as a field of conflict: A critical analysis of the press discourse in Gazeta Wyborcza and the weekly magazine Do Rzeczy in 2023

The article presents an analysis of the press discourse on forests that took place in the public sphere in Poland, in 2023. The research method applied in this paper is historical discourse analysis, developed by a research team led by Ruth Wodak, which is embedded in the critical paradigm, in the tradition of critical discourse analysis (CDA). The aim of the study is to identify the main threads in the public debate on forests, the groups presenting their visions of nature, and the forms of presentation of their views. The description and presentation of the strategies used by the actors allows for an examination of the power relations reproduced in the discourse, provides tools for a better understanding of the dynamics of environmental disputes, and helps to reflect on the ways in which public debate is conducted. The article presents the results of an analysis of 102 press articles on forests that appeared in 2023 in the national edition of Gazeta Wyborcza and in the weekly Do Rzeczy. The search was conducted using the Polish keywords: “forests”, “foresters”, “State Forests”. All articles published between January 1 and December 31, 2023 that substantially addressed forest−related issues were included in the analysis. Each of the newspapers presented represents a different discursive profile: the thematic threads that appear in them are emphasized and presented differently. The analysed titles feature actors of discourse such as the State Forests organization and its employees, members of non−governmental organizations, politicians shaping the country’s forest policy, as well as members of opposition parties. Representatives of the scientific community also appear in a small number of cases. Both the national edition of Gazeta Wyborcza and the weekly Do Rzeczy, despite their involvement in local conflicts, such as the dispute over the management of forests that are remnants of the former Carpathian Forest, do not present the voice of local communities, which are underrepresented in the discourse due to insufficient cultural capital. Insufficient cultural capital is understood here as a limited stock of linguistic competencies, knowledge, and interpretative codes that condition the ability to fully participate in public debate and to be represented in media discourse. The actors dominating a given medium assume the role of symbolic elites exercising direct control over available knowledge, the form and content of discourse, and decide what and how it is presented and what is left unsaid. The discursive strategies of denomination and evaluation, argumentation, and representation used in newspapers serve to present the arguments of their side, create symbolic divisions, and build closed rhetorical communities that reproduce their own views. The message formulated by the press is strongly polarized, and the discourse lacks a common language and emphasis on universal values. An analysis of the content on forests in newspapers shows that the topic of nature and forest management in the broad sense has become a tool of political dispute rather than a substantive discussion on the shape of forest ecosystem management in Poland. As a result, this discourse does not foster the building of a social consensus created within the framework of a democratic and dominance−free public debate.