Keeping up appearances: regulating media diversity in Portugal

Abstract

Since the abolition of the 50-years old authoritarian regime in Portugal in the mid-1970s, political discourses and legal texts have incorporated media diversity as a fundamental democratic value. The 1976 Constitution prohibited cross-media concentration and subsequent media legislation contemplated pluralism as a vital societal dimension. This recognition however has always been expressed in vague and inoperative terms as no government has ever had a real interest in preventing concentration of media ownership and in guaranteeing broadcasting content diversity. In an ever fragile political environment, governments have either promoted ‘friendly’ media groups or, fearing adverse reaction, abstained to act against the perceived interests of the established ones. Taking advantage of the smallness of the country, media owners have efficiently argued that scale was necessary to maintain the media in national hands, and that concentration in itself was a guarantee of media content diversity. The ‘foreign enemy’ argument has served both the interests of successive governments and domestic multimedia groups.