Following the classification of media systems by Hallin and Mancini (2004), Portugal belongs to the so-called “polarized pluralist model”, which has as one of its main characteristics a relatively low level of professionalization of journalists. This means a low degree of professional autonomy, some weakness in the definition and implementation of distinct professional and ethical norms, and a relative lack of public service orientation. These traits somehow apply to the Portuguese situation, although with nuances.
During most of the 20th century, because there was no freedom of expression or of association, journalists’ professional organizations had no autonomy at all. In such conditions, it was particularly difficult for them to implement their specific ethical values and professional norms, and this contributed to a “weak professional culture” (Correia & Baptista 2007). Things changed fast after 1974, when democracy prevailed. One of the first laws to be put into practice was a new press law. Journalists organized themselves in a (now free and autonomous) strong national union, and were able to convince the political powers to make laws on a large set of items considered to be very important to journalistic work. If the instruments of journalistic professionalization had been absent, now they were ‘conquered’ by the professional group, although more as a result of pressure over the State rather than as a result of a dynamic autonomous process. But dependence on a very centralized state, which is typical of the ‘pluralist polarized systems’, somehow continued in the country.
Portuguese journalists have important laws to protect their activity, they have their code of ethics, but they were never able to put into practice an efficient and consensual mechanism of self-regulation. The existing ‘Ethics Council’ works in the context of the union, but many of the ca. 7,000 professional journalists5 do not belong to it (in 2009, the union had 2,978 members, which means about 40 % of the existing journalists – see SJ 2009) and, therefore, tend not to acknowledge its jurisdiction.
The teaching of journalism is very recent as well: it only appeared at a Portuguese university in 1979.
Journalists are a rather heterogeneous professional group and still have not succeeded in putting forward a strong collective dynamic. Some progress in recent years is partly counterbalanced by the negative economic situation in the media industry, which pushes journalists more towards ‘proletarianization’ than professionalization.
