From Dictatorship to Democracy in Portugal: The use of Communication as a Political Strategy

Abstract

Like in every Fascist Regime, with its wide range of limited freedom, in Portugal, the New State forbade the freedom of
speech and started controlling the Media, by using them to promote the Regime. The political speeches by António de Oliveira Salazar
with the old political ideas of “God”, Homeland” and “Family” of the authoritarian Regimes became state dogmas from the thirties of the
20th century on. As Salazar stated, “ Only what we know that exists truly exists”. According to this thought a great propaganda strategy of
absolute certainties was created. The State even created a Secretariat for the National Propaganda which aimed to frame the social
everyday life into the spirit of the Regime. From the forties on, due to international happenings there is a decrease of the ideological
propaganda speech of the Government, since the main aim was the political survival. The fall of Dictatorship, in April 1974, made the
freedom of speech possible. However there wasn’t a State impartiality regarding the Media. The revolution strategists immediately used
the radio and the newspapers to spread news pro the political rebellion and the television to present themselves to the country. It is
obvious that with the abolition of censorship there was a radical change in the system of political communication. But a long time of
Democracy was necessary for the Media not to suffer political and governmental pressure.