Four main entities regularly deal with media monitoring issues. First, there is the ERC (Entidade Reguladora para a Comunicação Social [Regulatory Authority for the Media]), an official regulatory body for the media, with its members elected by the Parliament by a minimum majority of two thirds of votes. Apart from other activities (licensing, regulating, sanctioning), ERC also has a monitoring function to check whether the general rules and obligations are fulfilled such as in the PBS, as well as in the open access private television stations, also obliged by a concession contract. Besides its annual report, including a great deal of data on the media field, it regularly publishes information through its website and social media. It also launches and sponsors, in partnership with universities, relevant studies on specific issues about media activity and performance.
Second, there is Obercom (Observatório da Comunicação [Communication Observatory]). Although private, this observatory has great involvement in public institutions connected with the media and uses state facilities to carry out its work. The most important associations and media companies are partners. It regularly publishes dossiers with a detailed description of the media business in Portugal and leads (or funds) studies and research projects aimed to achieve “better knowledge of the communication area”. It also publishes an online scientific refereed journal. It is the national partner for the Reuters Institute Digital News Report.
Third is Marktest, aprivate company is responsible for monitoring activities regarding media audiences and audiometric, either in television or radio, the press, or the Internet. The results of its monitoring work are regularly used when anyone wants to describe the state of the media, for its reception and audience (both offline and online). Some major figures from its findings go public regularly, but the detailed information must be paid for.
And finally, there is APCT (Associação Portuguesa para o Controlo de Tiragem e de Circulação [Portuguese Association for the Control of Printing and Circulation]), also a private entity, created by the voluntary association of the press companies and designed to permanently monitor the number of copies printed, distributed, and sold. Membership is voluntary, but almost all relevant print media have joined it.
Two other entities have some activity concerning media content and journalistic work. The first is the Commission of the Professional Journalists’ Chart (CCPJ, 2020), responsible for the journalists’ professional licence which is a legal obligation in Portugal and for the scrutiny of their incompatibilities. The other is the Journalists Union (SJ, 2020), whose Ethics Council frequently brings to the public comments and recommendations about questionable media content.
Besides the regular activity of these institutions, some media monitoring work comes from research groups at universities and individual or collective blogs concerned with the media business. Not to mention the increasing debate over these issues in social media, particularly Facebook. Well-known Facebook pages such as “Os Truques da Imprensa Portuguesa” (with 199,000 followers) or “Uma página numa rede social” (75,000 followers) regular scrutinise what is published by the mainstream media and publish some of the most interesting critical reflections on the subject.
Despite all these monitoring entities, now and then public discussions arise about the apparent “impunity” of non-ethical behaviour in journalistic work, particularly in popular, sensationalist newspapers and television channels (as is the more common case of CMTV). Although the regulatory entity ERC has the power not only to monitor but also to condemn and to sanction in material terms misbehaviour in media coverage, the fact is this rarely happens. ERC usually prefers to issue a public critical note and to advise the media in question to be more careful in the future, instead of punishing them.
