Krzysztof Stanowski – the presidential election from another perspective!
Joe Rogan's name may be familiar to readers who know and follow politics. What Joe Rogan is in the United States, Krzysztof Stanowski and Kanał Zero are in Polish domestic politics. Stanowski has always been involved in journalism and media until the spring of 2020 when he launched an independent YouTube channel called Kanał Sportowy, which entered the Polish “new media” space with a sports focus. At the end of 2023, Stanowski exited the business, only to launch the also independent Kanał Zero (Channel Zero) on YouTube in February 2024 after a short break—completely shaking up Polish life.
Kanał Zero currently has 1.94 million subscribers and 4,300 videos, making it one of the most significant alternative sources of information in Poland—consider that the number of subscribers is 5% of the country’s population!
Politically, the live interviews titled Godzina Zero (Zero Hour) are particularly interesting: the video featuring Sławomir Mentzen, popular among youth and system critics, has been viewed 3.5 million times—nearly 8% of the population—while winner Karol Nawrocki reached 2.3 million views, and his opponent Rafał Trzaskowski 2.2 million views. The debates are fiery, the questions are critical, and guests arrive in quick succession because appearing on the show serves their interest, while the public eagerly consumes the words of Kanał Zero—or more precisely, the thoughts of its guests.
Michał Fedorowicz, an online communication expert, compared the political significance of Krzysztof Stanowski and Kanał Zero in the 2025 presidential election to the role Gazeta Wyborcza played in the 1989 campaign. According to Fedorowicz: “Back then, Wyborcza was a new, anti-establishment phenomenon that changed the world and how it was perceived. Stanowski plays a similar role today.”
The expert emphasizes that today’s viewer or reader is not looking for a moral authority to explain how the world works or what to think. Instead, they want to explore the world for themselves and don’t want someone to immediately tell them how to solve problems. “The media is not an oracle that forms opinions but helps in the cognitive process,” Fedorowicz points out, highlighting that Kanał Zero viewers feel they are part of the process through which information and stories are created, not just passive consumers of finished content.
How much is the media landscape changing, and how significant are Kanał Zero’s numbers? Let’s return overseas: according to a Pew Research Center survey, about one-fifth of Americans—37% among those under 30—regularly get their news from social media influencers.
One of the most visible symbols of the media landscape transformation in the U.S. is Joe Rogan’s rise as a dominant voice in public discourse. As Patricia Murphy noted in one analysis: the most important interview of the election cycle wasn’t conducted by CNN, NBC, or The New York Times but by Joe Rogan—his conversation with Donald Trump reached an astonishing 49 million views, more than the combined viewership of traditional election night coverage across all major news networks.
In light of these figures, the role of Krzysztof Stanowski and Kanał Zero is not negligible. In fact, it can be said to be a major factor influencing the decisions of the Polish people! How did the Nawrocki team take advantage of this?
We'll discuss that later. One thing is certain: traditional media is down; new media is up!
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