The 5th Journalists’ Congress will try to “find solutions” for the future of journalism in Portugal, at an event where the current situation of Global Media will also be addressed, the president told Lusa.
The event takes place between January 18 and 21 at the São Jorge cinema in Lisbon, with a pre-congress taking place between January 15 and 17 at the same venue, open to civil society.
“There has to be a before and after this congress”, journalism “has reached a state of exhaustion and after this period we can only be reborn”, so in addition to making a “diagnosis of the state” of the sector, we will try to “find solutions together for the future of journalism in Portugal”, said Pedro Coelho.
This is a “discussion that we have to face eye to eye and, from the congress, I believe that with all the journalists, with the different layers of journalism – it’s a profession with very different generations, salaries, platforms and interests – we will try to find solutions for the future,” he stressed.
And the solutions include knowing “how to finance free journalism in a country with the characteristics of Portugal in the 50 years since April 25,” he said.
The pre-congress, which precedes the event, will be “very much focused on the commemorations of the 50th anniversary of April 25”, in which journalists who worked during the dictatorship and who straddled the line between dictatorship and freedom will be honored.
These are three days open to civil society, where you can see an exhibition curated by Mário Cruz as a tribute to photo reporters.
The congress kicks off at 18:00 on January 18 with several speeches, including that of the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.
“Following the situation at Global Media Group [GMG], we’re going to have an extra – which wasn’t planned – with testimonies from members of the editorial boards of the organs” of that group “and also from other entities that the Executive Committee [of the congress] considers to be in a vulnerable situation,” said Pedro Coelho.
Access to the profession, job insecurity, the new frontiers of journalism – which include new technological approaches such as artificial intelligence, among others – grassroots journalism and the financing of journalism are some of the themes of the panels being discussed at this congress.
“We’re going to have testimonies from precarious journalists opening each of the panels,” revealed Pedro Coelho, a topic that is “a concern of the congress”.
The last day of the congress ends with a panel on the new frontiers of journalism and the closing session will pay tribute to journalists who died between 2017 and 2024, followed by a specific tribute to Mário Mesquita and João Mesquita, the union’s former president.
