Prime Minister Luis Montenegro said this Sunday in Porto that “some public funding” of the media is possible, arguing that “those who perform public service should naturally expect recognition from the state for the services they provide.” .
Speaking at a conference dedicated to the 136th anniversary of the Jornal de Notícias, at the Casa da Música in Porto, the head of government added that “it is also necessary to stimulate the attraction of private capital”, adding that the state must “guarantee a good return on the investments that have taken place” .
“We also need patronage tools for social communications, we need the capital that is attracted to this activity to be able to recoup the effort it takes,” said Luis Montenegro.
According to Luis Montenegro, “the country must develop, use its creative potential, which can motivate more knowledge, more science, more forms of innovation, do more than has been done before, and often more than others are doing nearby.” for us, this is a country that needs freedom, including information freedom.”
Stating that he is “obviously very concerned about how accurate information, unbiased and intelligent information can and should be materialized today,” he noted that at present, “the competition for good journalism is enormous, competition from social networks that choose only that information they want […] monetizing information created by others at no cost, leaving us with the resources good journalism and media need to be sustainable.”
“With the same naturalness and frankness with which I assume that the country needs good politicians, the country also needs good journalists, newspapers and media. But when everyone reports the same news, when one single event can send all journalists searching for a reaction, which is then multiplied by seven, eight, ten agents in the case of political parties […] I’m asking you, does the person at home really want to know this?” asked the Prime Minister.
In this context, Montenegro said that “it is important that public authorities can implement policies that guarantee greater financial sustainability of the sector,” adding: “Yes, there can be regulation, who are the owners, what are the interests surrounding the authorities.” social communications, that there can be a worthwhile career in journalism, because today it is not worth it. Most journalists are poorly paid, not to mention the fact that they are poorly paid and have such global importance in providing the country with information.”
In the government program headed by Luis Montenegro, it can be read that the executive intends, among other measures, to “develop an Action Plan for the media, involving the traditional and digital media sectors, academia and civil society, in order to respond to serious structural and cyclical challenges arising from profound technological changes, the configuration of new content offerings, crises in production chains and the disruption of consumer and business rights.”
As quoted in Sunday’s Jornal de Notícias, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pedro Duarte said an action plan for the sector would be presented soon.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
I’m Dave Martin, and I’m an experienced journalist working in the news industry. As a part of my work, I write for 24 News Reporters, covering mostly sports-related topics. With more than 5 years of experience as a journalist, I have written numerous articles on various topics to provide accurate information to readers.