The directors of the main national publications signed a manifesto in defense of the press and Democracy. It is a rare joint stance taken, which is justified by the possibility that, from January onwards, we will have eight districts without distribution of newspapers and magazines.
The distribution of publications in Portugal is carried out by VASP, a company belonging to the BEL group (shareholder of Diário de Notícias). Distribution in the districts of Beja, Évora, Portalegre, Castelo Branco, Guarda, Viseu, Vila Real and Bragança has been deficient for a long time and successive governments have been alerted to the risk of, one day, the interior being left without printed newspapers. Luís Montenegro’s governments promised to solve the problem, through the launch of an international public contract to guarantee distribution throughout the country, within the scope of the much talked about media support plan, but a year has passed and nothing has been done. Last week, when faced with the news that VASP might suspend distribution in the interior, Minister Leitão Amaro responded that the Government “does not want to write checks to any specific company” and that any solution will imply the existence of “competitive mechanisms”.
It is difficult to understand this position. What “competitive mechanisms” is Leitão Amaro referring to? Are you perhaps unaware that your predecessor, Pedro Duarte, prepared the launch of an international competition that ensured the existence of competition in the award of a public service concession? This procedure would be open to VASP and any other national and foreign companies that are willing to ensure the distribution of newspapers and magazines in districts where it is not economically viable.
On the other hand, the Government may have changed its mind and reached the conclusion that the existence of paper publications is not essential for the population’s literacy and for Democracy itself. We may deeply disagree, but it would be a legitimate position. What will not be legitimate is to hide such a position through rhetorical subterfuge. If it exists, the Government must take this position in an open and transparent manner.
On the other hand, it is impossible not to see this Government attitude as a possible conditioning of the press, because even if the intention is not that, the result will be the existence of a big question mark in the business plans of media groups for the next year.
In the case of DN, our paper circulation has been reduced for several years, as our business model is very digitally oriented (we ended last month with more than three million readers at www.dn.pt). But for other national newspapers, which sell tens of thousands of paper copies every day, the failure to resolve this issue, without any valid explanation and a minimum of predictability, is something that could have a significant impact on their respective business models.
What is happening is very serious and, regardless of the intention, it is a sword of Damocles that hangs over newspapers and magazines that, in some cases, have led the coverage on Spinumviva and other uncomfortable topics. I repeat: this may not be the intention, but the result of this inaction could be seen as conditioning of the press. And, in politics, what it seems is.
Director of News Diary