RTP Editorial Board asks Montenegro to recant and says that announced cuts “challenge the sustainability of the public service”
The RTP Editorial Board demanded that the prime minister retract his statements about journalists receiving questions “blown” into their earphones. Representatives of the public broadcaster’s journalists consider that Luís Montenegro demonstrated “a profound lack of knowledge about the technical functioning of television media” and, in a statement, reprimanded him for “disrespect for the professional integrity of journalists”.
On Tuesday, Montenegro took advantage of the conference “The future of the media”, organized by the Private Media Platform, to send messages to the media and press professionals, telling journalists that they are not “valuing their own profession” and that they should be more “calm”, and “not so breathless”. But the statement that motivated criticism from journalists, opposition parties and television media came when the Prime Minister said that it “impressed” him to see journalists with “a headset into which they are blowing the question they should ask”.
On social media and in RTP newspapers, reports and testimonies from journalists were broadcast explaining the importance of earphones to communicate with the newsroom and the government. The RTP Editorial Board reiterated that the use of headphones is “essential” for field work in a television medium and attacked what it considers to be Luís Montenegro’s lack of knowledge on the subject.
“It is regrettable that the prime minister, having advisors with experience in television on his team, did not inform himself about the function of earphones before making frivolous and disrespectful statements,” he said, asking Montenegro to recant and recognize the importance of the press “free and independent”.
The RTP journalists’ body also commented that, contrary to what the head of the Government pointed out, “breathless” journalism is preferable (…) than journalists tamed by political power to try to transform it into the mere voice of those who have institutional power.”
ANTÓNIO PEDRO SANTOS
At the same conference, the Government announced the Action Plan for Social Communicationin which, among the 30 measures announced, it is planned the end of advertising on RTP grids by 2027a measure that will result in RTP no longer receiving 6.6 million euros per year – and updating the audiovisual contribution (CAV) is not on the table. The Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, Pedro Duarte, in charge of communications, also confirmed that the executive intends to have a plan for voluntary departures from the public broadcaster, up to 250 workers, to make way for digital profile positions.
For the Editorial Board, the plan presented and the cuts in RTP’s human resources cause “deep concern”, as it “challenges the sustainability of public service and journalistic production”.
“The absence of alternatives to the cut funds creates a climate of uncertainty and makes it difficult to pursue RTP’s fundamental mission of ensuring journalism that is free from any interference, financially sustainable and capable of fulfilling its essential role in a democratic society, as defended by the first -minister”, said the Editorial Board. And he added that the “lack of clarity” and the “absence of a plan that ensures the viability” of RTP “deepens doubts and difficulties” in the national press.
After the storm of criticism of Luís Montenegro’s statements, including from the Journalists Union, Pedro Duarte clarified that the head of the Government made them “in a positive sense” and rejected “any type of intrusion into the space that is the stronghold of journalism”.
