Francisco César, President of the PS/Açores and candidate for the Assembly of the Republic, visited the newspaper ‘Correio dos Açores’ yesterday, April 21, as part of a series of PS/A meetings with media outlets in the region. On that occasion, he presented proposals to combat job insecurity in the sector, regulating institutional advertising, and creating financial mechanisms, such as tax benefits and a levy on large digital platforms.

On Monday, April 21, the President of the PS/Azores and candidate for the Assembly of the Republic, Francisco César, visited the newspaper Correio dos Açores and met with its Director, Américo Natalino de Viveiros.

As part of a series of planned visits and meetings with various media outlets in the region, Francisco César proposed a package of measures to stabilize the sector. He underlined the key role it plays in democracy.

Fighting precariousness and information dependency in journalism

Speaking to journalists after the visit and meeting at the newspaper’s premises, the President of the PS/Azores stressed the need to regulate institutional advertising and the advertising of public companies, so that “existing resources can be well distributed throughout the regional media”.

Francisco César is “concerned about the sustainability of journalists and workers in the region’s media”. The PS/Azores leader stresses “the need to combat precariousness in the sector” and points out that “a journalist who is part of the workforce, who is well paid, is a journalist who can do his job better”.

One of the solutions that the Socialist Party’s list leader for the Azores constituency for next May’s national legislature suggests, in the context of strengthening the sustainability of Azorean journalists, is to introduce benefits and tax credits for media organizations that actually have more journalists on their staff.

Another aspect of the weaknesses of the regional and local private media is the “enormous dependence” on other organizations and news agencies to carry out their daily work. Francisco César gives the example of the Lusa news agency, which is “fundamental for most of the media” in obtaining news. Concerning this Portuguese news agency, the candidate for the Assembly of the Republic believes that “it doesn’t make sense for this public service to be charged to the media” and proposes that, soon, the content that this agency provides “can be distributed to regional and local media free of charge”.

Charges for technological platforms and digital subscriptions

Among the range of PS/Açores measures aimed at the media is one that Francisco César revealed to journalists. This measure seeks to charge technology platforms a fee, with the revenue from the fee then being redistributed to private media.

The President of the PS/A in the Azores gave the example that, when you search on Google, you can see news from countless newspapers, but that the same technology company, with its enormous size, doesn’t pay any media outlet for distributing that content.

“It makes sense for there to be a tax on large technology companies, so that this tax can also be passed on to the media and ensure greater sustainability for the organizations,” Francisco César points out.

Also on the digital side, the candidate for the Assembly of the Republic talks about the importance of extending digital subscriptions nationwide, so that all young people over the age of 16 can have access to regional and local media, and so that the eligible age group of young people can be established by the end of their degree. In other words, “that all young people can have a subscription to a newspaper and a media outlet by the time they enter the job market, at a practically adult age”.

“Historic newspaper in the Azorean context”

Francisco César said he was working with the regional government to develop a set of proposals for the sector in the Azores and that “you can’t have a good democracy without good journalism.”

“We know that, in the world we live in, it’s probably not enough, but it’s a good step we can take towards helping the media, especially private media,” says the candidate for the Assembly of the Republic.

“Without good media there is no scrutiny, and without scrutiny there is no good democracy,” he added.

At the time, the President of the PS/Açores explained that ‘Correio dos Açores’ is a “historic newspaper in the Azorean context” and that it “plays a very important role in the defense of democracy” and “freedom of the press”.

The visit to ‘Correio dos Açores’ is one of several visits to media outlets, both public and private, in the region that the PS/Açores leader will make this year.

José Henrique Andrade is a journalist for Correio dos Açores, Natalino Viveiros-director.

Translated to English as a community outreach program from the Portuguese Beyond Borders Institute (PBBI) and the Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures Department (MCLL) as part of Bruma Publication and ADMA (Azores-Diaspora Media Alliance) at California State University, Fresno, PBBI thanks Luso Financial for sponsoring NOVIDADES.