Portuguese laws formally guarantee the independence of journalists from the owner (and the exclusive responsibility of the editor-in-chief over the content of the publication). Some media reinforce them through internal rules. The question is what happens at a more informal level, in the daily routines of journalistic choices.
All of the editors interviewed for this report insisted that there is complete independence of the newsroom from the ownership and management. In its first issue (in 1990), the quality daily Público even published a text, endorsed both by the editorial board and by the owner, in which a formal commitment to independence was made.
Rádio Renascença is in a special situation, as it is owned by the Catholic Church and makes it clear that it is a radio station “with a Christian inspiration”. But the editor-in-chief does not think it puts editorial independence at stake, because the station clearly distinguishes between what is “pluralism of information” and what is “a doctrinal inspiration”.
The issue of independence of the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) in relation to the Government is a permanent matter of debate in Portugal, especially in what concerns television. Their editors-in-chief pledge that the information area is completely independent from the Government, but opposition parties now and then raise their doubts and concerns about it.
Independence from the marketing and advertisement departments of media companies is also a generally underlined rule, although no one denies some more or less timid attempts to break it. Stories of ‘promiscuities’ between editorial and commercial areas are increasingly told. But they are usually denied by those directly involved, because it would harm their credibility.
The ‘golden rule’ of separation between the editorial area and the commercial / management area is a strong rule. But there seems to be a problem of self-censorship. As one of our respondents confessed (requesting not to be identified), “when we work in a company owned by an important group, of course we don’t forget that situation and, even in a non-explicit way, that tends to influence our choices”. And this “can be felt at different levels of the newsroom”, beginning at the top and going down to the “individual work of some journalists”.
