Monday, May. 22, 1989

World Notes POLAND

When the Gazeta Wyborcza (Electoral Gazette) hit the newsstands in Warsaw last week, the paper not only had the day's hottest story, it was the story. The first Solidarity daily ever to be published legally in Poland, the Gazeta ran a large portrait of Solidarity leader Lech Walesa and an account of his meeting with Jozef Cardinal Glemp. The edition also carried six pages profiling the union's candidates in next month's parliamentary elections.

Because of a technical glitch, only 150,000 copies of the first few issues rolled off the presses, but the projected circulation is 500,000. Under the agreement reached during the round-table talks between union and government leaders last month, the paper, rechristened Gazeta Codzienna (Daily Gazette), will continue to be published after the election. While the editors have announced their intention to "present views and opinions of the whole independent society," the Gazeta will no doubt always have a favorite subject. The paper's motto: "There is no freedom without Solidarity."