“Regions” are not a political entity in Portugal. In spite of that, considering the geographical scope of the publications, there are many regional and local newspapers, but they are generally very small. For the thirteen existing dailies, circulation rates are usually between 3,000 and 5,000 copies. For the weeklies, which are much more common at the regional level, there are hundreds, but these are usually small, rather traditional, and not very professionalised, with only a dozen exceptions. Many of them are now moving online too, and digital editions are replacing paper in some cases.
There are also many local radio stations, but all of these very small too; most of them do not even have a newsroom or information services. There are no regional television stations, because they are not allowed by law, which some consider “a serious democratic shortcoming” (Cádima, 2009). The exceptions are some local web-TV stations, distributed over the Internet, and two regional channels of the public television for Madeira and Azores.
One of the biggest national media groups (Global Media) owns two regional newspapers, one in Madeira Island, another in the Azores islands. There are two regional groups of some importance at this geographical level, both in the centre of the country – Adriano Lucas and Sojormedia. The first one owns four small dailies (one only online) and one weekly. The second owns one small daily, six weeklies, two regional radio stations, and a regional web-TV. But this does not signify much concentration in a landscape where regional and local titles can be counted in the hundreds.
Regional newspapers play an interesting role in terms of local information, but also (or mostly) in terms of creating community bond. Many people that left their home town to work and live in other regions, or immigrants that live abroad, often subscribe to their small local newspapers in order to keep in touch with their roots. An interesting percentage of inhabitants say they have some regular contact with regional or local press: 14.5 per cent of them, according to the Digital News Report Portugal (Cardoso et al., 2019).
