The President of the Republic argued today, at the 5th Journalists’ Congress, that there must be transparency about “who leads and manages what in the media”, without naming any specific group or body.
On arrival at the São Jorge Cinema in Lisbon, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa greeted workers from the Global Notícias group – whose shareholders include a Bahamas-based fund with unknown owners – who were holding a banner “in the fight to defend jobs”, without making any statements.
In his speech, after making a diagnosis of the situation of journalism in Portugal, the head of state said: “All this makes it inevitable, first of all, that there should be transparency in knowing who leads and manages what in the media, with what editorial projects, with what models, with what profiles and viability of giving life to the sector.”
“Secondly, that media owners and managers, all of them, plus experts in the scientific, technological and social changes underway, are constantly converging, interacting and strategically prospecting, forming a platform for dialog and convergence that decides with journalists. There were some steps at one point, but they stopped too soon,” he added.
According to the President of the Republic, it is imperative that “the State – which is different from those who represent it at any given time – never shies away from an essential debate”, because “there are historic and very important public means” and because “only on the basis of a broad understanding of different doctrinal, ideological and political forces and hemispheres is it possible to address this regime issue”.
The head of state entered the 5th Congress of Journalists accompanied by the president of the Supreme Court of Justice, Henrique Araújo, and sat next to him before speaking.
The opening session was also attended by the Minister for the Presidency, Mariana Vieira da Silva, and the Mayor of Lisbon, Carlos Moedas, as well as representatives of parties with parliamentary seats.
Speaking to journalists on the way out, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa expressed the hope that this congress, “at election time”, less than two months before the March 10 legislative elections, would be “a great moment to reach a broad understanding, I would say of a regime, regarding measures already tried in other countries” to support the media sector.
“There are several possible avenues, it has to be by a very broad party agreement, it has to be by general and abstract rules, with a regime of great independence and impartiality, because otherwise the governments themselves have a bit of a problem taking any initiative,” he said.
