The 5th Congress of Journalists will try to “find solutions” for the future of journalism in Portugal, in an event in which the current situation of Global Media will also be addressed, the president told Lusa
The event takes place between January 18th and 21st, at the São Jorge cinema, in Lisbon, with a pre-congress taking place between January 15th and 17th, in the same space, open to civil society.
“There must be a before and after this congress”, journalism “has reached a state of exhaustion and after this period we can only be reborn”, so in addition to making a “diagnosis of the state” of the sector, we will if we try to “find solutions together for the future of journalism in Portugal”, said Pedro Coelho.
This is a “discussion that we have to face eye to eye and, from the congress, I believe that with all journalists, with the different layers of journalism – it is a profession with very different generations, salaries, platforms and interests – we will try to find solutions for the future”, he reinforced.
And the solutions involve knowing “how to finance free journalism in a country with the characteristics of Portugal in the 50 years of the 25th of April”, he highlighted.
The pre-congress, which precedes the event, will be “very focused on the celebrations of the 50th anniversary of the 25th of April”, in which journalists who worked during the dictatorship and who crossed the line between dictatorship and freedom will be honored.
There are three days open to civil society, where you can see an exhibition curated by Mário Cruz, in homage to photo reporters.
The congress starts at 6pm on January 18th with several interventions, including that of the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.
“Following the situation at Global Media Group [GMG] we are going to do an extra – which was not foreseen – with testimonies from members of the editorial boards of the bodies” of that group “and also from other entities that the Executive Committee [do congresso] considers them to be in a vulnerable situation”, said Pedro Coelho.
Access to the profession, precariousness, the new frontiers of journalism – which include new technological approaches such as artificial intelligence, among others – proximity journalism and the financing of journalism are some of the themes of the panels under discussion at this congress.
“We will open each of the panels with testimonies from precarious journalists”, revealed Pedro Coelho, a topic that is “a concern for the congress”.
The last day of the congress ends with the panel on the new frontiers of journalism and the closing session features a tribute to the journalists who died between 2017 and 2024 and will then have a specific tribute to Mário Mesquita and João Mesquita, former president of the union .