The mayor of Vila Nova de Gaia, this Monday in Porto, defended the inclusion of the journal Jornal de Notícias (JN) on the UNESCO list of intangible cultural heritage, calling on the state to play a central role in this candidacy.
A video message from Eduardo Vitor Rodrigues was published during the debate on how to make it viable, in the Porto Diary, which today gathered around 100 people at the Centrocultural e Desportivo dos Trabalhadores da Câmara Municipal do Porto.
According to the mayor of Gaya, the newspaper’s 135 years of life “have not been in vain,” so “we must mobilize everyone, businessmen and mayors” in its decision, noting that “all resources are in the capital to finance this press.” and in the North “we need to go hand in hand.”
In this context, he continued, it is necessary to “move the debate towards classification within UNESCO,” complaining that “the state can and should play a more central role here.”
From the mayor of Santa Maria da Feira, Emidio Sousa, another proposal has emerged for the financing of “exempt media”: “a redistribution of the 192 million euros per year tax on audiovisual services, no longer covering only RTP and RDP.”
JN director Ines Cardoso reflected on the situation in a diary and expressed hope that “with such pain, this is a turning point to reflect on the service that journalism provides to society.”
“JN is currently out of time (…) we need to act urgently as each passing week is a long time. The ERC’s decision to continue the procedure gives us some hope. Freedom does mean information, and let’s celebrate the 50th anniversary. 25th of April”.
Musician Pedro Abrunosa said that at a time when populism is on the rise, “journalism is the great institution on which the democrats are placing their hopes.” Matosinhos Mayor Luisa Salgueiro said in a speech that “in a year that celebrates 50 years of freedom, this is especially serious,” rejecting “the disappearance of a newspaper that represents the pulse of the North.”
“I don’t have a solution that I could present because of the legislation, but it can be adapted in the relationship between local authorities and the media (…) I hope that we can have a good influence on these decisions,” added He.
According to Sérgio Humberto, president of the Chamber of Trofa, “this can no longer be done in words, it must be solved in a northern way (…) because what they are doing is disinvesting from Porto to centralize in Lisbon.”
In a pre-recorded speech, Porto Mayor Rui Moreira expressed “great concern” and sent a “word of hope”, saying “JN cannot be allowed to die”.
Former Porto daily journalist Germano Silva, who started working for JN in 1956, described the newspaper’s developments as “a crisis that has no face”, emotionally resorting to memory to recall that “there were many moments of uncertainty, but the newspaper never stopped pay your employees.”
Porto Bishop Manuel Linda intervened and said that “he has no miraculous solutions” but was committed to “defending journalism that defends the nobility of democracy.”
On December 6, 2023, in an internal statement, the executive committee of Global Media Group, led by José Paulo Fafe, announced that it would urgently negotiate redundancies with 150–200 workers and embark on a restructuring that it said was necessary. to avoid the “more than foreseeable bankruptcy of the group.”