It was launched on 8 May 1989 on the basis of the Polish Round Table Agreement and as a press organ of the trade union "Solidarity" in the election campaign before the Contract Sejm.

[10][11] Initially created to cover Poland's first partially free parliamentary elections, it rapidly grew into a major publication, reaching a circulation of over 500,000 copies at its peak in the 1990s.

It is published by Agora, with its original editor-in-chief Adam Michnik,[12][13] appointed by Lech Wałęsa,[14] Gazeta Wyborcza is one of Poland's newspapers of record, covering the gamut of political, international and general news from a left-liberal perspective.

[15][16][17] Gazeta Wyborcza also publishes thematic supplements addressing topics such as economy, law, education, and health, including Duży Format, Co Jest Grane 24, and Wysokie Obcasy.

[26] Its founding was an outcome of the Polish Round Table Agreement between the communist government of the People's Republic of Poland and political opponents centred on the Solidarity movement.

This proposal is currently interpreted as a proof of sensing the aspirations of the Solidarity camp to take over more power than was agreed at the Round Table,[33] but officially met with opposition.

[34][35] From the second half of 1989, the environment concentrated in the editorial office of Wyborcza sympathized with the government of Tadeusz Mazowiecki , and at the same time was in conflict with the representatives of Tygodnik Solidarność.

[24] These antagonisms correlated with the political conflict known as the "War on the Mountain", during which Wałęsa allied himself with the Civic Committee faction represented by the brothers Lech and Jarosław Kaczyński against Mazowiecki.

It was argued that "the bias of articles aimed at discrediting and ridiculing the chairman of Lech Wałęsa" and explaining that "Gazeta is not an information organ of "S", but a private company."

In addition, Wałęsa demanded the dismissal of Michnik (since July 1990 belonging to the Movement of Citizens, Democratic Action party ) from the post of editor-in-chief.

[24] Together with other corruption scandals plaguing the country, the Rywin affair plunged the government of Leszek Miller,[42][43] but Michnik himself—also screened by the commission in terms of business connections with Agora—met with a wave of criticism from other media.

[44] In 2003, a Polish film producer Lew Rywin was accused by Gazeta Wyborcza of attempted bribery after he had allegedly solicited a bribe of $17.5 million from the editor Adam Michnik in exchange for amendments to a draft media legislation.

The adoption of the draft law in the government's original form would have prevented Agora S.A. from purchasing Polsat, one of Poland's private TV stations.

Consequently, Lew Rywin was sentenced for attempting to influence the parliamentary legislative process aimed at enabling a Polish media company to buy a television station.

A newspaper article from 23 January 2002 revealed an affair regarding the killing of patients by the employees of the Lodz ambulance service and the sale of information about deaths to funeral parlors.

The parliamentary investigative committee showed unclear interests in the then attempted privatization of Orlen,[46] and Zbigniew Siemiątkowski, the head of the UOP responsible for arresting Modrzejewski, was convicted by a final judgment for abuse of power.

[49] After the fall of real socialism, the paper was criticized for taking part in an "intensive propaganda campaign" and particularly for rigorously trying to revamp Jaruzelski's image.

The following sections are arranged according to the topics covered: Almost every issue of "Gazeta Wyborcza" contains additional content appearing as part of thematic weeklies.

The Friday supplements of "Gazeta Wyborcza" are: "Wyborcza TV" - a weekly with programs of Polish and foreign stations, which additionally presents interviews with TV creators and regular columns, as well as "Co Jest Grane 24" - a magazine announcing the cultural events of the weekend and the coming week, whose editors write about film and theater premieres, concerts, exhibitions and present recommended restaurants and clubs.

Every Saturday, "Gazeta Wyborcza" publishes: "Wolna Sobota" - an opinion magazine in which readers will find 40 pages of reading, presenting various worldviews and worlds as well as controversial hypotheses; "Ale Historia" - a historical weekly where its editors reach previously unknown facts, present unique places and people, works of art and cultural events; "Wysokie Obcasy" - a women's magazine that deals with everyday and extraordinary matters, and also publishes portraits of women not necessarily known from the front pages of newspapers.

The Wyborcza.pl website is linked to the BIQdata portal, where socio-political reports are published in the form of charts, infographics and other graphic representations of numerical values.

The first version of the application for devices with the Android operating system, produced by the We Like Caps development studio, appeared on Google Play on 7 July 2014.

[71] The title of Journalist of the Year awarded during this ceremony was given in 2007 to Marcin Kącki,[72] in 2010 – Artur Domosławski,[73] in 2011 - Andrzej Poczobut,[74] in 2013 - Mariusz Szczygieł,[75] and in 2014 - Piotr Andrusieczko.

[76] In other categories, awards were given to Katarzyna Klukowska, Włodzimierz Kalicki,[77] Jacek Hugo-Bader, Adam Wajrak,[78] Ireneusz Dańko, Dariusz Janowski, Marcin Fabiański, Leszek Talko,[79] Anna Bikont, Artur Włodarski,[80] Tomasz Patora , Marcin Stelmasiak, Anna Fostalkowska,[81] Roman Daszczyński, Krzysztof Wójcik, Angelika Kuźniak, Włodzimierz Nowak,[82] Wojciech Staszewski,[83] Magdalena Grochowska, Maciej Samcik,[84] Joanna Wojciechowska,[85] Paweł Wiejas,[86] Piotr Głuchowski, Marcin Kowalski, Magdalena Grzebałkowska,[87] Urszula Jabłońska,[88] Agnieszka Kublik , Bartosz T. Wieliński,[89] Donata Subbotko,[90] Elżbieta Sidi,[91] Anna Śmigulec,[92] and Grzegorz Sroczyński.