Today's Polish political elite and its media are extremely lucky - lucky that most foreign journalists don't understand Polish. Lucky to have a monopoly on news and opinion not only in Poland but also abroad. Foreign media have little choice other than to blindly copy the Polish mainstream newspapers.

So if one hears that "foreign media" or "western society" are worried or concerned about Jarosław Kaczyński running for President, one has to keep in mind that these are often the recycled opinions of loyal Polish journalists.

This is a beautiful self-fulfilling prophecy, and quite frankly it is dangerous for the sustainability of the Polish democracy.

I distinctly remember Charles Crawford, formerly the United Kingdom's ambassador to Poland, saying after his first meeting with the late President Lech Kaczyński that the character he had been presented by the Polish media bore no resemblance whatsoever with the sensible and balanced personality he actually met and had long and profound discussions with about current affairs.

What this and many similar anecdotes prove is that the Polish media fail to fulfill their role of unbiased guardian of the Polish democracy. For a foreigner, it is astonishing to observe years of tasteless insult directed at Lech and Jarosław Kaczyński by leading and often respected Polish opinion formers. And it is even more astonishing to see them get away with it. What in mature western European democracies is simply not done, seems only normal in the public life, and seemingly among a large part of the Polish elite and its electorate.

You would never see the likes of Die Welt, Le Monde or the Daily Telegraph openly promote, support and fuel obscene and mostly uni-directional slanging matches. It is one thing to be critical of policies, but for instance to openly call the French President or the British Prime Minister a coward, idiot or chuff, would be unacceptable and would unmistakably have serious legal repercussions.

I always wonder why, more than twenty years after a soft revolution (or evolution), there is still no objective, multi-opinion mainstream media in this country? How different would be the picture of Jarosław Kaczyński, his late brother, and their pro-reform political family if only the Polish media and opinion formers treated them fairly and objectively. If the debate were about substance, and not about how tall they are and what pet they have.

The next round is on July 4, and fortunately the choice is in the hands of the real people, not of a small and much too powerful group of influencers.

Because, at the end of the day, in the words of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, "the real reformers are the people."

Lech Kaczyński was a great European, he just wasn't a European at any cost. A few weeks have now passed since the tragic events in Smolensk that wiped out the lives of Poland's political elite, and it is time to consider the European testament of the late president.

Perhaps not the greatest public relations wonder, Lech Kaczyński was a statesman in his own particular way, and an intellectual with a clear vision for his country, who tried to stand above party politics and who sought justice for those who held privileged positions during the communist era and kept their influence after the transition of the early 90s. The latter brought him many enemies in his homeland.

Poland's late president was the kind of European that Brussels doesn't seem to like. He was disagreeable and uncomfortable, which did not suit most of his counterparts and indeed his domestic political rivals. He did not want to accept impunity for decades of communist terrorism and could not imagine how one can build a strong united Europe without justice and fair punishment. He warned us that we can and should not blindly trust the dogmatic multilateralism that is deified by so many in Brussels. He was so much more realistic than most about Poland's position in Europe, and Europe's role on the world scene. Uncomfortably realistic.

Lech Kaczyński reminded us of our dependence on the United States, and on the value of maintaining strong relations with the most stable democracy in the world. Often criticized for his trust and confidence in America, he recognized that Poland and Europe, not ultimately capable of self-defense, need the US - and no-one else - as their strongest partner.

He recognized the need for a prudent strategy on Russia, and rightfully pointed to the stranglehold the powerful empire in the Levant still has on parts of Central and Eastern Europe. He was one of the few to remind us of the ruthlessness with which Russia continues to treat its much less powerful neighbors, and of Russia's long-term strategy to increase its power reach.

With the death of Lech Kaczyński and of so many, too many, who really cared about Poland and put the interests of the country above their own political interests, the country has undoubtedly changed. We can only hope that their memory be kept alive and their legacy be carried on by a new generation with real political courage. Sadly these are, so far, nowhere to be seen on the political landscape.