Latest news and stories about public discourse in Portugal for expats and residents.
The Regulatory Authority for the Media (ERC) had received 4,200 complaints by Monday regarding Cristina Ferreira's statements concerning the rape of a minor, 900 more than on Thursday, an official source told Lusa today.
Due to a flippant comment, the topic of rape is in the spotlight.
The Mayor of Coimbra accused a Lusa journalist this Saturday of “lacking the truth”. Speaking to CNN Portugal, Lusa's director of information, Luísa Meireles, believes that in nine days “there is plenty of time when one wants to counter-argue”.
Discussing disinformation is discussing power, but it is also discussing truth, and it is discussing choices. In a liberal democracy, truth is not decreed; it is built through the free confrontation of ideas, rigorous investigation, public scrutiny, and individual responsibility. That is why disinformation is not just a technical problem, it is not just a...
We avoid information that does not support our opinions and seek out information that reinforces them. Why do we avoid everything that contradicts us?
Portugal continues to cultivate with remarkable persistence an ancient art: monitoring women with the energy it rarely applies to monitoring those in power. Opinion by Paulo Sousa.
This need for elected politicians to control culture coexists with the position that culture is not essential in our lives. No culture is neutral. It can be good or bad, but it is not neutral. Opinion by Maria Vlachou.
The ERC ruling states that the presenter's words “transfer the responsibility for what happened to the victim(s)” of a hate crime against women.
A commentary contrasting the choice to refuse to heed ignorance with the decision to welcome and celebrate diversity.
Since 2011 the word “crisis” has firmly entered the everyday vocabulary of the Portuguese and has become a synonym for unwanted collective feelings, strategically utilised (and abused) by various quarters of national politics to label what is neither desired nor appreciated, regardless of reality (and the facts). In contexts of intense ...
After all, what do we want from politics today? Conflict, entertainment, tactical manoeuvring, fear, stalemate...? Or… conviction, assertion, freedom and solutions? Opinion by Ana Rita Bessa
Patrícia Reis argues that everyone is deemed correct and doubt is not tolerated — uncertainty is treated as a sign of weakness.
How the logic of extremes is eroding democratic debate.
The world is sick and Portugal isn't feeling very well. The politics we have are also a reflection of that 'malaise' (just to show that we can use fancy words too).
The exchanges between Gouveia e Melo and Marques Mendes escalated in tone, with the Admiral again referring to a 'business facilitator' and Mendes replying 'vulgarity'. Seguro and Cotrim emerged unscathed.
A two-hour debate between Gouveia e Melo and Marques Mendes that avoided discussing Belém (the presidential palace/office).
