Situated in southwestern Europe, Portugal covers an area of 92,152 sq km and has a population of 10.6 million (2006 estimate). The two biggest cities are Lisbon, the capital, and Oporto. The official language is Portuguese. The literacy rate is 93 percent, and 94 percent of the population are Roman Catholic. In 2005, the country’s GDP was a147.3 billion (a13,972 per capita). Portugal is a parliamentary democracy. The Portuguese Constitution determines the complete separation of the four main organs: the president, the government, the parliament, and the courts.
Portugal has been an independent country since the twelfth century. The monarchy was overthrown in 1910, but the period of the First Republic ended in 1926 with a military coup d’état. From 1933 the nation was ruled by a repressive right-wing regime with close ties to the Catholic church, the Estado Novo. Democracy came with the 1974 leftist revolution, which also led to independence being granted to Portugal’s colonies in Africa. Between 1985 and 1995, the ruling center-right Partido Social Democrático promoted the privatization of key sectors of the economy, including banking and telecommunications, a tendency that continued under subsequent Socialist Party governments. The country joined the European Union in 1986 and experienced a significant economic growth in the 1990s. However, the economy has struggled and unemployment has grown since 2001.
Following the 1974 revolution, the 1976 constitution – and its revised versions – granted press freedom and prohibited any forms of censorship. Media laws currently in place (Press Law no. 2/99, Television Law no. 31-A/98, Radio Law no. 2/97) enshrine a pluralist view of the media and establish a number of rights and guarantees for journalists and citizens. The Entidade Reguladora para a Comunicação Social (Mass Communication Regulatory Body) oversees the enforcement of such rules and regulations.
There are five daily generalist newspapers with national circulation. Two of these are “quality” papers: Público, owned by the Sonae business group, and Diário de Notícias, the property of the Global Notícias multimedia group. This group also owns the mid-market Jornal de Notícias, based in Oporto, and 24 Horas, one of the two popular newspapers. The other is Correio da Manhã, property of the Cofina group. Traditionally, readership of dailies is low, and it dropped further in 2005, when Público had a circulation of 50,701 copies, Diário de Notícias 37,909, and Correio da Manhã 118,254 (ICS 2006). With circulations of 128,168 and 99,683 respectively, Expresso and Visão are the most widely read weekly newspaper and news magazine. Both are the property of the Impresa multimedia group. There are 532 regional and local papers in the country with typical circulations of only a few thousand.
The Portuguese radio system is organized into three main groups: Rádiodifusão Portuguesa, Renascença, and Media Capital. Rádiodifusão Portuguesa, which is a public service station, had its origins in Emissora Nacional, funded in 1935 under the Estado Novo. Soon after, the Catholic church started Renascença. This group is the audience leader, with 38 percent of audience share in 2005, due especially to RFM, its hugely popular easy-listening music channel. Funded by a license fee and advertising, Rádiodifusão Portuguesa operates three main channels – Antena 1, Antena 2, and Antena 3 – which broadcast news and popular music, classical music, and new music targeted at young people, respectively. The Media Capital Group is the most commercial of the three with its Rádio Comercial, Cidade FM, and Rádio Clube Português taking 20 percent of audience share. Local stations were legalized in the 1980s and totaled 355 in 2005. In addition, TSF (part of Global Notícias), which features long news bulletins and documentaries, plays a key role in radio journalism in Portugal.
Four television channels are freely broadcast in Portugal. Two belong to the state-owned Radiotelevisão Portuguesa (funded in 1955): RTP1 and 2:SIC is the property of Impresa, and TVI is owned by Media Capital. SIC and TVI started operating in 1992 and 1993 respectively. There is less diversity in the program mix of the two privately owned channels than in RTP1’s, the public service operator, which is funded by the state and by advertising. RTP1 invests more in national production with cultural and/or historical relevance, and had an audience share of 23.6 percent in 2005. With an audience share of 27.2 percent, SIC devoted its prime time to Brazilian telenovelas, but was overtaken by TVI with nationally produced soap operas (30 percent share). A new project, 2: was launched in 2004 to replace RTP2. It is open to the independent productions of the so-called “civil society” and shows more knowledgeoriented programs (5 percent audience share). RTP transmits dedicated channels to the island territories of Portugal: RTP Açores and RTP Madeira.
There are 20 cable and satellite channels in Portugal. RTP and SIC own a cable news channel each and several entertainment ones. Lusomundo, of the (mainly state-owned) Portugal Telecom multimedia group, has a number of cinema channels. The Internet has grown to 100,000 registered sites, and 35 percent of Portuguese homes have access to it (ANACOM 2006). All the main national media and most of the regional and local ones have online editions. There are several digital news periodicals, such as Portugal Diário and Diário Digital. Blogging has become very popular and is also widely used by some conventional media, such as radio stations. The recent appearance of over 20 web TVs and the delivery of television programs to mobile phones are other examples of the convergence of various forms of communication.
While the Portuguese media system was marked by censorship and oppression during the Estado Novo period, it radically changed in the following 30 years, when privatization and deregulation turned the market into the decisive factor. Although there is still some state intervention in the Portuguese media system, it is becoming increasingly liberal. A history of low levels of literacy still means low newspaper readership and therefore a certain economic fragility. Excessive concentration of property is the main risk for press diversity in the future. Digital and cable media (including regional television channels) offer the biggest prospects for growth, but there is a crucial need to foster computer ownership and Internet access.
- ANACOM (2006). Autoridade Nacional de Comunicações [National Communications Authority]. At www.icp.pt, accessed September 2, 2006.
- ICS (2006). Instituto da Comunicação Social [Mass Communication Institute]. At www.ics.pt, accessed September 2, 2006.
- OberCom (2006). Observatório da Comunicação [Communication Observatory]. At www.obercom.pt, accessed September 2, 2006.
- Pinto, M. (ed.) (2000). A comunicação e os media em Portugal [Communication and the media in Portugal]. Braga: ICS, Universidade do Minho.
- Pinto, M., & Sousa, H. (2004). Portugal. In M. Kelly, G. Maszoleny, & D. McQuail (eds.), The media in Europe. London: Sage, pp. 180–190.