Portuguese Media And Democratic Reform

The relationship between media and politics is one of the most important issues that western journalism and communication studies concern. As a social institution, media is a part of the society. Therefore media is shaped by the social and political structure inevitably. On the other hand, during the process of the interaction of media and politics, media also affects the whole society.The 25th of April 1974, the carnation revolution overthrew the 48-year fascist dictatorship, Portugal democratic revolution started. This paper introduces Portuguese long history of contest and democratic transformation and media conditions.In the book Comparing Media Systems: Three Models of Media and Politics, the authors classify 18 countries of Europe and North America to be three models: the North Atlantic/Liberal Model, the Mediterranean/Polarized Pluralist Model and the North/Central European/Democratic Corporatist Model. Portugal belongs to the Mediterranean/Polarized Pluralist Model and media have tied to political powers very closely. The degree of political parallelism in the model is very high. The circulation of the mass press is not as much as the media in other European countries and the commercial media are not very strong. The journalistic organizations are also not developed. After decades under government control, Portugal now has a constitutionally free press. Portugal's constitution has been amended to include provisions for access to public documents as well as safeguards for a free press. Article 37 of Portuguese constitution ensures the right to free expression and the right to inform and obtain information and be informed "without hindrance or discrimination." Press freedom also has tied to democratic election very closely.The Portuguese media is making a slow but steady recovery from decades of government-imposed oppression and mediocrity. Investigative journalism boomed in Portugal in the decades after the carnation revolution of 1974. But nowadays, according to media professionals, investigative journalism is hardly practiced. Journalists say political and economical powers try to prevent investigative journalism. This paper will conclude the common arguments about the relationships between investigative journalism and corruption of government.