Ivo Widlak (born July 5, 1978, in

Knurów Knurów (; ) is a city near Katowice in Silesia, southern Poland. Knurów is an outer city of the Metropolis GZM, a metropolis with a population of two million. Knurów is located in the Silesian Highlands, on the Bierawka River, a tributary of t ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

) is an international press, radio and TV

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

. He started as a very young

reporter A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

at weekly

newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as poli ...

in his hometown titled "Przegląd Lokalny". Then he started hosting TV show for children and teenagers called "Kleks" on

TVP Katowice TVP3 Katowice a.k.a. TV Katowice also Television Katowice is one of the regional branches of the Telewizja Polska, TVP, Poland's public television broadcaster. It serves the entire Silesian Voivodeship with particular dedication to the Metropolis ...

. The same year, in 1995, wrote scripts and hosted "5-10-15", another show for children and teenagers on

TVP1 TVP1 (TVP Jeden, ''Telewizja Polska 1'', ''Program Pierwszy Telewizji Polskiej'', ''"Jedynka"'') is the main public television channel of Telewizja Polska, TVP (Telewizja Polska S.A.), Poland's national television broadcaster. It was the first Po ...

Telewizja Polska Telewizja Polska S.A. (; TVP), also known in English as Polish Television, is a Public broadcasting, public service broadcaster in Poland, founded in 1952. It is the oldest and largest Polish television network. After 2015, when the right-wing po ...

. Later he co-developed and co-hosted "Twój Problem Nasza Głowa" on Telewizja Wisła later

TVN (Poland) TVN (stylised in all lowercase) is a Polish free-to-air television station, network and a media and entertainment group in Poland. It was co-founded by Polish businessmen Mariusz Walter, Jan Wejchert and Swiss entrepreneur Bruno Valsangiacomo. I ...

. In 1998 he moved to

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

to co-host "

Rower Błażeja ''Rower Błażeja'' (eng. ''Błażej's Bike'') was a live Polish youth show broadcast on TVP from 1997 until June 2004, Monday through Friday. It was the first young adult show in post-communist Poland. The show featured discussions with invited ...

" on

. During his career he worked for Radio Puls in

Gliwice Gliwice (; , ) is a city in Upper Silesia, in southern Poland. The city is located in the Silesian Highlands, on the Kłodnica river (a tributary of the Oder River, Oder). It lies approximately 25 km west from Katowice, the regional capital ...

and

Radio ZET Radio Zet () is a Polish commercial radio station launched in 1990, as the second privately owned radio in Poland. Since 2023, its majority shareholder has been Agora (company), Agora SA. History Radio Zet was established in Warsaw, and air ...

in Warsaw. In 2001 he moved permanently to

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

, and in 2004 he created and hosted own talk show, titled "Ivo na zywo", and produced and hosted daily news program on TVPChicago broadcast on Channel 34

WJYS WJYS (channel 62) is an independent television station licensed to Hammond, Indiana, United States, serving the Chicago area. Owned by Millennial Telecommunications, Inc., WJYS maintains studio facilities on South Oak Park Avenue in Tinley Park ...

. He also has been an editor-in-chief of several popular internet news websites in Polish. He rose to prominence as an investigative journalist in the United States, for uncovering corruption and irregularities that took place with the renovation of the building of the

Polish Consulate General, Chicago The Consulate General of the Republic of Poland in Chicago () is a consular mission of the Republic of Poland in the United States. The mission serves the largest Polish communities outside of Poland. The consulate is located at 1530 North Lake S ...

titled "Consulgate" (the

Supreme Chamber of Control of the Republic of Poland The Supreme Audit Office (, abbreviated ''NIK'') is the supreme audit institution and also one of the oldest state institutions in Poland, created under the Second Republic on February 7, 1919, barely 3 months after the restoration of Poland's i ...

informed by Widlak later confirmed that irregularities occurred at all stages of implementation of the renovation, and the final cost was in the amount of $8.2 million). President of the Polish Cultural Institute in Chicago.

Deportation controversy

On December 14, 2012, pinknews.co.uk reported that Ivo Widlak is facing the risk of deportation from the United States due to his bisexuality. Widlak has been married for ten years to a woman, Lale. However, someone in the local Polish community, later revealed it was attorney Christopher Kurczaba, reportedly went to authorities and claimed that Ivo and Lale were in a sham marriage, and that Ivo was in fact homosexual. The Widlaks are not a same-sex couple, so they do not fall under the protection of a recent executive order that President Obama signed in September 2012. That order stated that foreigners in a same-sex relationship with an American citizen have the same anti-deportation protections as foreigners married to an American citizen.

References

External links

Ivo Widlak on FacebookIvo Widlak on Twitter
{{DEFAULTSORT:Widlak, Ivo 1978 births Living people People from Knurów Journalists from Chicago Polish emigrants to the United States American television reporters and correspondents American male journalists American people of Polish descent Polish journalists